As they walked, Hero could only think about the jump rope and poster they saw. It felt like clutter in his head, as he wanted to think that it was nothing to worry about. That the jump rope being there was just his brain being mean to him but it was the poster that prevented him from thinking that.
“You did it!”
Those were the words on the poster. He felt a chill wrap around himself as he thought about it.
Wasn’t this his dream?
Was he still blaming himself?
His therapist told him that it wasn’t. That Mari just happened to be able to hide her signs better than others but every time he was told that Hero could only think about what those signs must have been. What were her signs? What did he miss?
…Maybe he did blame himself more than he would like to admit.
He sighed as the desert somehow managed to feel hotter than normal.
Then he heard someone screaming, managing to break him completely out of his thoughts. He nearly joined the screaming when he saw someone on fire running straight at them before stopping in front of Hero.
He said something that Hero managed to completely miss because his brain was still focused on the fact that the man was on fire.
The next thing he knew, he had a new skill in his inventory before the man quickly began running again.
“...Okay then,” He muttered aloud, deciding not to question it.
“Should we put him out?” Aubrey whispered.
The man began to run in circles giving a thumbs up to the group.
“I think he’ll be fine,” Kel grinned.
“Agreed,” Hero nodded.
With those words, they made their way into what appeared to be a graveyard…for toast. Hero grinned to himself as a happier memory played in his mind.
~~~
“NOOO MY TOAST!” Kel shouted as his toast hit the floor.
“Well, maybe if you weren’t messing with it, it wouldn’t be on the floor!” Aubrey scolded.
“Heroooo, my toast died…” Kel looked towards his brother with pleading eyes, “Can you please make me more?”
“It died?” He chuckled at the wording Kel used, “Should we hold a funeral for it?”
“Dibs on priest,” Sunny randomly spoke up.
“Basil, you’re good at digging. Think you can make it a tiny grave?” Kel grinned, going along with the joke.
“Eh? Uh…sure? Why not….” Basil sighed as he got up, “I’ll get the shovel,”
Mari was laughing at the end of the table so hard that Hero was sure she was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen if Sunny didn’t walk over to her and whisper something in her ear. She listened to him closely before grinning.
“Yeah, I think I can do that,” She suppressed a laugh before getting up and heading to her room. Sunny followed close behind her. He wasn’t smiling but it was easy to tell that he also found the situation amusing.
The moment it was just Hero and Aubrey, the girl turned to him with a nervous look, “They’re not actually planning a funeral, are they?”
Hero sighed, “I think they are.”
He was never so happy to be right. Apparently, Sunny told Mari to take a gown off a doll she owned to put on the piece of toast. Basil dug a small hole for the toast to lay in and Sunny ended up reading a random verse of the Bible.
All in all, it was a pretty good day.
~~~
The toast graveyard wasn’t all that special to explore but Hero did have a couple of…questions.
First things first, if they turn into toast whenever they’re defeated then does that mean all these pieces of toast are people? What if they were to put Life Jam on the graves? Would they come back to life or are they permanently dead?
He was only broken out of these thoughts when he heard a surprised shout from Kel. He quickly turned around only to see one of the pieces of toast had been shoved aside revealing a ladder leading underground.
“...We’re going to go down there, aren’t we?” Kel asked.
“of course not,” Hero said as he dragged them back to the train.
They all reluctantly got on.