Everyone’s Dreams, Coming True!? Chapter 5 - Maguro and Ringo

"Schezo said the Dream Mist's influence is particularly strong on anyone who touched the box."
"Then that means Maguro's at risk. Let's go find him!"

As what Arle and Ringo said, the next one we're going to look for is Maguro. First of all, we headed over to where we saw him yesterday.

"About Maguro, what kind of dream will we see from him?"

I asked as I walked alongside Ringo, and she tilted her head.

"Maguro is quite unpredictable and selfless~. So he doesn't have much in particular."
"Maguro doesn't have a future dream?" said Arle.

Ringo thought about it for a moment, but then shook her head.

"Now that you mention it, when you put it that way, he doesn't really have one..."
"Maybe he wants to be rich! Or maybe he wants to be popular! Or be su~per strong, or eat tons of delicious food! ...maybe?"

I threw out some of my ideas. Unsurprisingly, Ringo shook her head.

"If I may, Maguro is a bit of a hobbyist. If it's from the olden days, he has an interest in it, even if he hasn't seen much of it."
"Maguro's like an adult~."

I let out a sigh. I don't actively look for tasty candy, cute dolls or colorful toys though. But that's because Santa goes through a lot every year for whatever wish is made!

"An adult you say...Ah! Maguro spotted!"

Ringo abruptly shouted, pointing at the front. It was the river where we saw Maguro yesterday. He's just practicing his kendama all on his lonesome. We all hurried on over to him, and he eventually noticed us.

"Hey guys★ You seem to be in a hurry, what's up?"
"Maguro! Is your sanity slipping!? There's something incredibly crazy going on, and you're not hallucinating right!?"
"Whaa★ Whatever you're saying...chill out, Amitie~!"

Maguro "greatly" calmed me down with his usual easygoing vibe. Nothing strange is to be found.

"...wha?"

Arle tilted her head. "We're looking at a normal Maguro?"
"Hmm..."

Ringo put her hand to her chin as she mumbled, walking circles around him, getting close to his face, then backing up to scan him down. Maguro shrugged his shoulders, getting uncomfortable from all of that.

"Hold- hold- hold it★ Is something up!? I'm practicing to win a kendama tournament, and I'm really busy...★"
"Ah...oh..."

With great disappointment, she backed off and bowed.

"Well, see ya★"
"S-Sure..."
"Bye-bye, Maguro!"

Arle and I waved our hands, leaving him to his kendama practice and seeing him off from behind.

"N-nothing happened..." We muttered.
"What do we do after that?"

Arle asked, feeling a bit frustrated. Ringo muttered an answer.

"We pursue him."
"Eh? Why, Ringo?"

She answered plain and straight to the point, then I listened to her again.

"Somewhere, Maguro is behaving strangely. Let's confirm the situation one more time!"
"Strangely? Somewhere? I don't really follow...Do you get it, Carby?"
"Gugu? Gu~gu~!"

Carbuncle fiercely shook his head when Arle brought up the question. Ringo, though, raised her finger in a snap to declare something.

"Well then...look there!"

~glance~

Arle and I were kinda stumped at Ringo's vaguely confident chatter.

"R-Ringo~. Look where..."
"Looking like a fool, rather. My assumption in the beginning has led into this conclusion beyond logic. I did say he was my childhood friend, and I believe he's not in his right mind!"

...I did not understand a thing beyond that, even the last thing about Maguro is a mess. Is it really because they're childhood friends? With that in mind, we've got to hurry and track him down. If Maguro went down this direction...Ah, there he is! He's fishing at the river.

"Magurooo!!"

Ringo quickly waved at Maguro and called for him.

"You finished up your kendama practice?" I also called out. Maguro looked up at us, tilting his head.
"What do you mean★ I've been fishing here the entire time★"
"....eh?"

Now the three of us tilted our heads.

"I thought I'd try being the fishing champion, so I've been practicing that the entire time★"
"....M-Maguro?"

This is definitely weird as heck! Didn't we see him off like five minutes ago?

"Then that means..." Arle mumbled, then the next thing happens.
"Hah★ Hiyah★"

We heard Maguro's voice from within the bushes behind us...wait, what?! Aren't we looking at Maguro fishing here!? Then they continued...

"Aaand...checkmate★"
"Alright and bit of salt and pepper...★"
"Hey~hey★"

We heard a bunch of Maguro voices. They're all overlapping each other, meaning that it's not just one person. Something weird is happening in the bushes! The three of us swapped looks with each other, then we peeked into the bushes...

"Wh- WHAAAAAA!?" The three of us spontaneously shouted.

"It's a school of Maguro..." Ringo idly muttered.

But the scene in those bushes left us with nothing else to say. There has to be at least ten Maguro in there! There's Maguro rehearsing a dance, there's Maguro focused with playing a tabletop game, there's Maguro cooking something tasty over an open fire, there's Maguro doing kendama practice...Which one is the one we saw off?

...Is- Is this Maguro's dream? Is this what Maguro's various wishes turned into?

"Carby...this is making my head spin..."
"Gugu~..."

I looked over to Arle and Carbuncle, who are kinda losing themselves. Umm...what to do about this...

"A-Anyway. Let's go call him out!"

Once she pulled thoughts together, Ringo went into the bushes where the Maguros are buzzing about.

"Maguro!"
"Ah★ Ringo."
"Heyo★"
"What's up★"

Several Maguros turned to her when she called him. She looked around at the Maguros right in the eye, and fired a question at them.

"Why are you multiplying!?"

The Maguros swapped looks with each other.

"Why~ not★"
"I'm happy, though★"
"Yep yep★"
"Um....Uhh, having a crowd of yourself makes you happy? Why?"

I followed up after Ringo, though asking nervously.

"Well, with a bunch of us around, we can do many of anything...of course★"
"Yeah yeah★ Aiming for kendama champ, challenging the chess king, mastering cooking, enjoying a good dance..."
"I can do all of that at once★" All the Maguros happily answered. Ringo nodded as she listened to their answers.
"I see...You do have a point. On one hand, you can perform your many hobbies and interests..."
"Eeh!? But we have to deal with the self-multiplication problem somehow. Right, Carby?"
"Gu~..."

Arle seems stunned when she saw Carbuncle's face.

"Well~, I see what's causing the Maguro multiplication. Okay, if you open your eyes will you do anything?"

I grumbled to myself, then Ringo raised her index finger and proclaimed "Okay then, let's do logical persuasion."
"With the right ratio and rationale, we can probably communicate persuasion to Maguro!"

I....I see! We're testing if we could talk to the multiple Maguros around here.

"M-Maguro. Hey, listen up! The multiplying Maguros are all part of the dream's magic from the dream you're seeing. Isn't strange that you're multiplying? Please, open your eyes!"

Maguro wasn't like Raffine who ignored everything I said. Did he get everything from the get-go? I hope he did...

"Really now★ Ni~ce dream then★"
"I don't want to wake up, then★"
"Yep yep★ I gotta say, it kinda feels pretty good, man★"

He more or less heard what I said, but some of it kinda went out the other ear.

"Gah..."
"Grr. He's a tough one. Rationale had no effect."

I turned around disappointed, while Ringo looked frustrated.

"Hrnn, hmm...Poking at Maguro's wishes' inconsistencies is likely our top priority."
"Huh!? How do we go about that!?"

With how everything she said confused the heck out of me, I'm hoping Ringo finds something.

"Just watch please."

Ringo advanced on with no delay.

"Maguro! Even if there are ten of you, your dream has not come true!"
"Eh★"
"What do you mean★"

Some of the Maguros looked at Ringo.

"Kendama, fishing, and cooking...you understand your dreams well. However, those dreams are done, right? Sure, you also like swimming, playing music, and sports! Then you'll end up with twenty of you when ten won't do!"
"I-..."
"I see★"
"I get it. The dream is us multiplying forever. But that number will only increase if we don't see the end of it!"
"I understand it★"
"Maguro, please understand!"

I pondered about something while looking at the Maguros, as Ringo smiled...then the next moment, with a "Poof!" sound, a new Maguro appeared out of nowhere!

"Okay, let's multiply some more, then...★"

And with another "Poof!" another Maguro appeared next to him.

"I want to play music for sure★ Alright~, it's go time~★"
"AAAAAH! They just keep on comiiiing!!"
"What do we do about the multiplying Maguros, Ringo!?"

When Arle and I came up to Ringo, she broke a sweat and said "H-...huh?" and tilted her head.

"D- Does this mean, Maguro...is potentially multiplying forever? How interesting. Come to think of it, earlier, Maguro said he wanted to try marathoning jump rope and knitting!

*Poof! Poof! P-Poof!*

Ringo's words challenged Maguros ever-continuing multiplication....wait.

"Stop multiplyiiiiiiing!"
"Ringo! Something interesting is definitely going on!"
"Guguuuu!!"
"Ah- Ahahahaha. Looks like I didn't even try."

Each of the Maguros took up and focused on a hobby of their liking and were surrounding our view, leaving us dumbfounded. Geez, wherever I look, is there even an end to the multiplying Maguros!? At this pace, what would happen to Primp with his multiplication!? It'll go out of control~!

"Ringo~, do you have anything else on mind? We need an idea on how to smack some sense into him!"
"Right. W-Why it is just me?"
"Oh, come on. You're his childhood friend! It's Childhood Friend Power!"

I insisted on, then Arle said "Y-You're getting really pushy, Amitie..." with a wry smile.

"But Childhood Friend Power...Other than that, I don't have any idea off the top of my head..."
"You're kidding me!!"
"Childhood friends...Childhood friends. Hmm. I'd say it, but it'd might make you kinda lonely."
"Lonely? How so? Considering the circumstances, anything you're thinking won't invoke loneliness."

Ringo waved her hands in front of her face as I listened on.

"Uhm...I’m feeling rather lonely. How could the Maguros forget that I'm right here."
"Eh? Forget?"

Some nearby Maguros butted in and I tilted my head.

"Oh please, forgetting you★ You know we always remember you Ringo★"
"Yep yep★"
"We won't forget...of course.★"

Ringo huffed up, glaring at the Maguros.

"I'm your only childhood friend, you know."
"...huh★"
"I'm the only one. When you play with your other selves, do you even get along with them?"
"W...Well...★"

Each of the Maguros' faces winced a bit at the thought. Say wha? Looks like the air took a turn somehow!

"Rather, as your childhood friend, I'd want to play with you, but you'd rather play with your other selves, huh? You would rather have fun with what's left of yourself?"
"...Ringo..."
"I have one more to say. I, your one and only childhood friend, was the only one you'd go to. How could you be so cruel to have forgotten about me!" She uttered a little angrily.

Sta~re...

As much as the Maguros liked to party, this one time, they stopped moving about and turned to Ringo. This, maybe, possibly...

"I see★"
"Point taken★"
"So, I'm in my own dream, then..."

*Poof! P-P-P-Poof!*

With those words, the Maguros disapepared one after another into the Dream Mist.

"...Huh?"

The real Maguro right here looked surprised after convincing him. Ringo rolled her eyes to the other Maguros, who are still disappearing. The last one was practicing kendama, and Ringo waved for his attention.

"Ringo★ I'll wake up this time for sure★"
"...R-Right. See you..."

She then waved him away.

"Sorry about today★ And thanks★"

With Maguro's parting words, he's now gone, now the last of them disappeared. What was left after was the Dream Mist.

"Amazing, Ringo! You managed to wake Maguro up!"
"Gugu!" Arle put a hand on Ringo's shoulder and smiled.
"Uh...somehow I was successful."

Though, Ringo feels like she didn't convince a thing at all. Her face is blushing a bit too.

"Goody! Now we're done here!"

With that said, I raised the little chest up high like usual. The Dream Mist was drawn into the chest, much like the time with Raffine's. Okay, onto the next beat of things!