The Lost Item Above the Clouds

Number 4 and Number 2
Mikan-san, I'm counting on you ♡

The guest that night was a boy who had forgotten his name just a little bit.

“I wonder... what was my name again?”
He muttered, looking up at the sky.

Then, a breeze blew softly, and a cloud hotel appeared before his eyes.
On the fluffy sign, it was written, “Sheep Cloud Hotel.”

“Welcome.”
The sheep manager smiled kindly.

The boy said, looking a little uneasy.
“I... I think I’ve forgotten something.”

The manager nodded gently.
“It must be something important.”

The room he was shown to was a quiet one, surrounded by fluffy clouds, with only a large mirror inside.

“Please take your time here.”
With that, the manager quietly closed the door.

The boy stood in front of the mirror.
His own face should have been reflected there, but...
“Huh?”

He felt it was just a little different.
When he smiled, the boy in the mirror smiled back.

But...
He had a slightly kinder face.

At that moment,
the boy in the mirror moved his lips.

Even though no sound could be heard,
the words reached him softly.

— “It’s okay.”

A breeze blew softly, and the boy’s chest tightened.
The time someone kindly asked him “Are you okay?” when he fell down.

The time he was happy to have his name called.
“...Ah.”

The boy remembered.
“My name is... Riku.”

As morning approached,
the cloud hotel slowly faded away.
The boy woke up in his bed.
“...Ah, that’s right... My name is Riku.”

And... he felt as if he had become a little stronger.

In the sky outside the window,
a cloud drifts by softly.

I felt like the sheep manager waved at me from within it.

Riku waves back gently. "Thank you."

The small voice was carried away by the wind and vanished.

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