Story: Rosario + Vampire: Dreaming of Eternity

I couldn't decide who to have find the bed, so I made it into a list of options after an introductory piece. An introsplit if you will. Enjoy.


Sleep is an essential part of the biological process of many members of the animal kingdom. A peculiar quirk of evolution that renders all things susceptible to capture by prey by robbing them of awareness of their surroundings and leaving them immobile. In almost all cases completely defenseless. This vulnerability is typically compensated for by finding safe locations, utilising camouflage or other hiding techniques to limit the likelihood of a hungry predator simply gobbling up an unaware slumbering creature.

Not all such beings dream in sleep. Scientists are able to tell this by way of a particular kind of sleep referred to as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which, as the name indicates, occurs when the sleeping subject’s ocular muscles propel the eyeball into moving around in ways that might seem quite erratic and random underneath the closed eyelids. All mammals enter REM sleep. Insects do not. Fish do not. Reptiles… perhaps. One hypothesis states that mammals experience REM sleep as a holdover from evolution away from reptilian form. Whether this hypothesis is true or not, science is still to determine as of time of writing. Only future evidence will reveal the truth.

The peculiar thing about yokai is that every single one of them does dream. Every last one. Even mermaids or others similar to fish and birds. All of them dream, and all of them need sleep every little bit as much as humans do. For context, understand that sleep deprivation has a number of nasty side effects on both mind and body. Memory is often affected as is the attention span. Increased clumsiness is another factor, which comparatively serves as an irritant at best. The body’s healing process can become impaired in more severe cases, and an insomniac might well either lose or gain weight depending upon their body chemistry. Doesn’t sound so bad? Then how about minisleep? Imagine going about your business, walking down the street or driving a car and then your brain switches off for a few seconds or minutes. Completely beyond your control. With you being completely unaware it has even happened until afterwards.

How does that sound?

Well, to at least one chronic insomniac that sounded like hell. At best he could manage an hour a night for a month straight, and he was quite understandably irritable about it all. That is why he had marched off into the woods in search of help in an act of sheer desperation. He was staunch. He was resolute. He was -

Found by that help resting his head against a tree, sleeping like a baby.

“Well. If that doesn’t beat all,” a woman in a pointy hat said. She tsked and tutted, then leaned in for a closer look at the young man. “Not bad,” she mumbled to herself. “I wonder why he’s-”

Eyes blinked open and posture went upright in the same moment. “Gah!” the man yelped, falling back into the mud in a most undignified manner. “H-How did you… No, no, of course! You must be the legendary witch Lovely Lucy!”

“Lovely” was a name that seemed to apply quite well to this witch, who was much older than she looked. Most believed it was a mark of vanity, but the simple truth of the matter was that she had made a mistake while brewing a potion one day when she was much less experienced, and… Well. Instant fountain of youth. She had initially tried to recreate the potion, until her mentor instructed her to burn all traces of it. Youth was for the young. A statement she understood all too well, as no matter how old she got she couldn’t stop herself from <i>behaving</i> like a youngster.

Case in point, the overpowering urge to strap this young man to a bed and test drive him. Stupid hormones. But never mind that for the time being! She had to make do with the proper introductions.

“Well, well, well! You must be quite the brave young man to come all this way to see li’l old me!” Lucy chuckled. She gave him a deep bow with a flowery flourish. “Or perhaps just that desperate! My forest has a rather potent enchantment upon it that sends most men marching miles away. That is the trouble with being a legend, you see. You get so many people asking for help -”

A simple gesture later, and all of a sudden the only thing showing of the young man was his head. Every other bit of him was covered in roots. “Or trying to kill you. So sorry, but it really is better to be safe, and - Hey! Wake up!”

“I am awake!” the young man insisted. “I… *yawn* Sorry, what were you saying? Who were you again?”

Lucy stepped forward towards the bleary-eyed young man, and she touched her wand to his forehead. “Ah!” she said. “Lack of sleep. No… Not just that. It looks like you’re not even dreaming! My word, no wonder you’re in such a state. Hmm… Well, I suppose if you really did come here for help, it would be terribly rude to send you packing. One moment, and all of your problems will be solved!”

The man watched as the witch skipped to a nearby tall tree, leaned in and… whispered something to it. The tree branches shook almost as though it were… it were nodding in agreement. With a happy smile, the witch stepped back and waved her wand once again. Suddenly, where once there was a tree, now there lay a bed frame. Another gesture and suddenly it started raining bird feathers, black and white. Once the torrent stopped, the wand was waved once again and the feathers swirled up. It was like watching an orchestral performance! As she would wave her wand the feathers would swirl about, compressing together onto the frame and forming into a shape: A mattress, two pillows laid side by side and a duvet that fluttered into place atop the rest.

The roots moved the man forward and dumped him unceremoniously atop the bed where he bounced no less than thrice. “How is it?” Lucy asked, voice full of the pride of a good bit of work. “Comfy? Sleep on that and you’ll surely dream. Heck, rest upon this bed and anyone’d be unconscious in about a minute… See? Your eyes are getting sleepy already. When you wake up, I’ll have you both sent off home… Wherever that is. How does that sound?”

The young man nodded. He really didn’t seem to have the strength to do anything else. His body was already automatically pulling the duvet over himself as though compelled by some other force entirely not of his own will. With a sigh that came of resting, finally resting, finally sleeping… He was consumed whole by the embrace of Morbius. And for the first time in a month, he dreamed…

He dreamed that he would spend the rest of his life in this forest with Lucy. He dreamed of the two of them frolicking in the forest. He dreamed of surprising her in the shower. Of embracing her at night. Of their first kiss. Their first son. Their first daughter. Their last kiss. Their last goodbye and the rose she lay upon his chest…

And when he awoke, he was back in his ancestral home with tears upon his face for he knew that he had lost something wonderful. He rose from the bed, and noticed something fall from him. A rose. Just like in the dream. He wept uncontrollably, and sealed the bed within a basement, even going so far as to wall it up. He could not destroy that one gift from her to him, but nor could he bear to see it again.

After this, some say that he returned to the forest and spent the rest of his days there, just as he dreamed. Some say, he would sleep outside that concealed basement: The only place he could anymore. Others say he never slept again… Whichever of these is true, it matters little. For this ground had changed in the passage of time. This ground had become home for a very special school. And one of the students was about to find this strange bed, and they were about to have some very powerful dreams.

1. Tsukune
2. Moka
3. Kurumu
4. Mizore
5. Gin
6. Someone else