Green hills. It’s been a long time since anyone has seen the site of those. The wind blows the grass in one direction but oak trees sway another. The landscape seems to move like waves with all these tall hills. It’s nippy, but not cold. For the first time in a long time, it isn’t cold.

Inari’s own shadow has her arms folded and seems to be staring at her. “Here we are again.” The voice would seem to be own, but her lips never move. “I don’t understand the path that you’ve chosen for yourself. I don’t hate you, my child, but I find this disappointing.”

Her shadow seems to walk and Inari would have no choice but to follow. The hills continue to roll, and would give problems to anyone who got motion sick. Eventually, they arrive at a stream. The koi fish seem be able to swim upstream, going vertical up the waterfall. The shadow sits her down on one side of the stream before detaching itself from Inari. The shadow then walks across the stream, and sits on the other side, transforming into a silhouette of a man. The man gives a sigh, “As father to daughter, I’d get out of Tokyo for awhile. You won’t be able to handle what happens. Time is ticking away...”

Inari shook her head. "I don't understand this. I only barely believe that you are who you say you are." She said as she followed, not looking at him but instead at the fish. "I've never even seen your face, only a shadow and a voice. And what kind of father doesn't want his daughter to graduate from college to the best of her ability?" She questioned suspiciously. Her dreams were similar to this somewhat. She would always question him, but never truly be angry at him.

"If something's going on, tell me then, and I can't just up and leave, I'll get so far behind in my studies, and where would I go anyway? My fish need me." Not friends, for she never had real friends, just her fish and those at the aquarium.

The fish stop swimming as Inari speaks, and begin dying gasps for breath. They thrash for a few moments before floating to the top on their sides. The silhouette's head turns to the side, “Would seeing my face change anything? You could imagine anything to fill in the blank. You wouldn’t be sure if it was reality, a memory, or your own construction.” He touches the water, setting the fish upright and swimming again.

“You’ve been in Japan too long. All these things are wastes of time. That way of life will not last forever, and there is nothing you can do to change that,” he says quietly. There would be a few flashes of images of ruined cities of exotic locations.  More like blinks before they resumed their normal setting. 

He folds his hands in his lap, “I can’t speak plainly about this. I’m sworn to secrecy. I can only say things will get very dangerous for you if you choose to stay. And I doubt you will survive it. I can perhaps make arrangements for you outside of the city. However, you should begin packing your things. And the fish are simply fish. They are incapable of the same affection as you show them. Save your efforts for something more worthwhile.”

Inari watched and listened. It wasn't like she had any other tie to the city.. She had no friends, her mother and grandmother were dead and gone. All she had were her fish, and this dream man that claimed to be her father. "They are all I have.. I've never known you, I grew up without you even once in my life and being tormented for it." She said, upset for not even once visiting her until she grew up and appeared in her dreams. "I don't know what to do.. The world is a wreck as it is.." She said as she kept her head downcast, watching the fish live and die, somehow.. she wasn't that moved by their death as she thought she might..

She suddenly looked up right at his shadowed form. "Can you come to me once? let me see that you are real and not just the figments of my lonely imagination?" She could admit it to herself in her dreams, she was lonely, not even her fish could comfort her when she felt this way.

“I apologize. No I wasn’t around. In truth, I wasn’t aware of your existence when you were born. And I did avoid you for sometime after I discovered that. Life is short though, and I know enough not to run away for gifts that it gives me. So I cannot say I was a good father, but I am attempting to make up for it now.” Water lilies follow the direction of the current of the stream and come into bloom before the two of them. The koi seem to play around them.

He seems to ponder for a few moments as things still and become quiet. The fish splash without making noise. “As for confirming my own existence, I do not know know if it would be safe. I am not without my enemies, and I fear being out in public too long these days. But perhaps for a short meeting. I suppose I can find you in your world.”

Noise returns and the wind begins to blow uneasily like a ragged breath. “However, the meantime, there are people who you may come to meet. They will make extravagant claims and say they hold the keys to utopia. But they are all false messiahs, and if you should meet one... Well, if you search for me in your dreams, you will always find me,” he says. “You are a very precious thing but far from reaching all you could be. And there are those who would seek to use you for their own schemes. As peaceful as they may seem, they concern themselves with only with war just like all others.”

She nodded. "One step at a time then. I'm ususally left alone, I did get to teach a music class recently, I've gotton good at my music." She said with a small smile, something better to think about than sadness. "I'll think about what you've said tonight, and I will see you soon." She said as she stood up. Would he actually do it? She wasn't sure, but she could not feel falsehoods with his words either.