REM 1: On the Edge of a Dream

REM 1: On the Edge of a Dream is the first chapter of Yumekui Merry.

Synopsis
Sometime in the past, a young boy with a scar on his right arm leads a crying girl, assuring her that it will be alright and reminding her that he promised her that he would get them back. They end up in front of an ominous door causing the boy to gulp. As the boy opens the door, he again reassures the girl but then something beyond the door startled the boy who responds by putting up his right hand to shield himself and ...

It is now the present day, a teenage boy pulls down his right hand that was covering his face and sees the strange city-scape and complains about being here again. When an empty food can rolled by him, he looks back and is attack by anthropomorphic cats. He deflects them and tries to taunt them about their numbers being insufficient but then sees a whole lot of them and begins to run. He hides and complains about this happening before. Suddenly he is grabbed from behind through the wall and the other cats come around and surround him. It is then the rooster crowed and a cat declares that time has run out and they released the boy but as they leave they tell him that soon their Boss will come for him and not to get worked up since it is a dream. The boy sat down on a bench but it broke under him.

In a bedroom the boy has fallen out of his bed. He introduces himself with an inner monologue as Yumeji Fujiwara. As he changes clothes, he states that he has been having the same dream over and over and recaps of what happened in the last dream. The calendar on the wall says it is August. Yumeji opens the curtains and notes the nice weather.

Downstairs in the cafe section of the house, Saki greets Isana, asking if she is working and orders cold coffee. Saki then asked if Yumeji is around and Isana tells her that he should be waking any second now. Saki inquires about Yumeji's boarding at Isana's house when his parents are away for work. Isana confirms it and notes that he used to come over when both were young. Isana then states with a smile that this time Yumeji is staying for a while which Saki then teases her.

Yumeji and Isana's Dad greet each other as the former enters the cafe. Saki greets him and Yumeji wonders if she is here for "business." Isana scolds him for talking about "it" which Saki agrees and tells him to tie down with Isana first. Saki then makes rings with the index fingers and thumbs of both her hands and put them up to her eyes and asked Yumeji if he is going to do that. Yumeji does which prompts Saki to laugh. Yumeji retorts that he won't be able to do "it" if he doesn't do that.

Yumeji then looks at Saki through his ringed thumb and index. Yumeji explains in inner monologue that he can see, as an aura, dreams people experience. He discovered this ability 10 years ago when he was 7. He really doesn't know much about this ability and like all strange things in the world, it brought unwanted attention. Isana stuck with him and help him experiment to learn more about it. Red shows an exciting dream. Blue is a sad dream. Brown is a dream where you keep running endlessly. And others were an inseparable mix of colors that keep changing. At best he can accurately guess them at 30%.

Saki wants him to tell her dream already but Yumeji excuses himself to the bathroom first. As he leaves the cafe, Saki reminds Yumeji that they are going to review his story and that Mei Hoshino is looking forward to it. Yumeji assures them that it would move them to tears as he goes through a door. Saki wonders if he is going to do it but Isana assures her that once Yumeji decided something he will keep his word. Saki then teases Isana some more.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Yumeji continues his monologue explanation of his powers. As he looks at himself with his ability through his reflection, he states that the only color that is 100% accurate is the color black which denotes a nightmare which he sees for his own reflection. Yumeji laments aloud to himself about going to see the cats again.

Back at the cafe, Isana remembers that the book she wants is on sale today. Saki is surprised that Isana could be forgetful and since they could be sold out when Isana gets there, she suggests that Yumeji could go to get it for her. Isana agrees that he does have free time but Yumeji interrupts her as he reenters the cafe. Yumeji exclaims that he has plans to marathon Nirenja but Isana reminds him that she caught him eating snacks and promised to do anything for her which Yumeji relents. As Yumeji leaves Saki exclaims aloud that they should party as Isana sees him off.

On the way to the store, Yumeji notices feathers falling down followed by loud sounds. As Yumeji looks up wondering what is happening, he sees a body which fell on him. The person who fell yelled at the crows for pecking at her but also admits that she was at fault as well. Yumeji then gets the girl's attention and tells her to get off of him.

She gets off and looks at Yumeji with her horizontal rectangle pupil-ed eyes. Yumeji tells her that she should make better friends since the crows probably don't understand her. The girl interjects that they are not her friends and that she doesn't need friends. Yumeji just scratches his head. The girl touches the top of her head and panics that her hat is gone and runs off. Yumeji watches her and comments that she was weird.

Later at the market area, Yumeji finished buying the art book that Isana wanted. He then notices a walking hat. He gets closer to take the hat and reveals that the hat had a cat under it. He wonders if he had seen it before and then remembers that he had been seeing cats in his dreams.

Suddenly Yumeji finds himself in the strange city-scape that he had been dreaming about, confused on why he was here since he was awake. Then from behind him a person explains to him its "deja vu" and that he is merely at the edge of a dream and welcomes him or rather thanks him for bringing himself into existence.

The person introduce himself as "Chaser" John Doe and tells Yumeji that he has been called to their world just as they have been called to his. John continues that they need his body to move in the real world and they are just going to put him to sleep. Yumeji runs away with the hat in hand and John tells him it is futile since his minions occupy his area and he will show him why he is called the "Chaser".

Yumeji keeps on running and eventually hides in a store. With the brief respite, Yumeji tries to recall the events leading to this predicament. He first remembered eating extra spicy curry but retorted to himself that he went too far. He remembers that: Isana asked him to shop for her, a strange girl fell on him, and then he picked up the hat. He tries to convince himself that the situation he is in now can't be real and pinched himself. A maneki-neko then says that it hurts doesn't it before revealing itself as a cat minion by chucking what it was holding at Yumeji.

John then bust through the wall next to Yumeji and both of them ended outside. As John comment that he found him and that he should give up, Yumeji internally apologizes to Isana and antagonizes that he will break a promise again while releasing the hat into the wind.

A voice then sounds out that they found their hat and states they couldn't calm down without it. The girl that Yumeji met earlier now stands between him and John but now with the hat on and call out to John that she finally found him, calling him a bake-neko.

Trivia

 * When Yumeji used his "dream vision" to look at Saki, his right eye's pupil gains a faint horizontal rectangle reminiscent of Merry's Nightmare Pupils.