Author's Note: a serious Yume Nikki fanfiction! Keep in mind that I will only update occasionally, because I have other fanfictions and stuff to keep up with. Oh, and I'll try to keep locations and stuff as close to the original as possible, but no promises. The Torinigen won't be in their original spawn points, either. Anyway, this is my interpretation of Yume Nikki, and I hope you all enjoy it!

All characters belong to Kikiyama

It was the start of a new school term.

School had always seemed like a waste of time for Madotsuki. It was like a cage. Why bother with lessons with a load of other children if the other children had other things in mind?

At least, that was what things were like at Madotsuki's school. Madotsuki could never focus- namely because there were too many things to focus on. She could focus on the teacher, rambling away about algebra at the front of the classroom- or she could focus on introspective Monoe at the front, with her cold attentive stare. Or Dave Spector, a boy notorious for his devotion to stalking Monoe, usually ogling her from his seat next to Madotsuki. Or the gang of delinquents known as the Torinigen at the back of the class, paying attention to each other rather than anything else.

It was no surprise that Madotsuki found herself drawn to the window more than anything else. A lot of people, namely the Torinigen, made fun of her for how often she daydreamed; comparing her to a girl called Kamakurako in the year below who always fell asleep in class. Madotsuki didn't care. She liked to daydream.

The start of the autumn term always meant a frenzy in Madotsuki's household. Madotsuki and her mother and father lived in a rather cramped apartment, so with the start of a new term came a rush of lost books and panicking about equipment and whether Madotsuki's favourite clothes were washed. This panic usually always came from Madotsuki's parents- because Madotsuki didn't care.

This morning was just as tedious as every other school morning. Madotsuki would put her long, chocolate-brown hair into two plaits, and pull on her favourite red skirt and pink jumper with a window design. The equipment she brought to school was the bare minimum- the books she needed for the day, a pencil, pen and eraser, and a flute for her music lessons. Madotsuki didn't understand why everybody panicked about organisation and neatness. It was just school, after all. In about four years she would be done with it, and then she could go to college. She had no idea what she would study in college, though. Madotsuki didn't have any interests or subjects that she was interested in- because she didn't care.

"I'm going to go now," she called idly to her mother and father, who were sitting in the living space, watching morning news and reading the newspaper respectively.

"Are you?" her mother replied. "Are you sure you've got everything? We know what you're like, Madotsuki."

"Yes, I have," Madotsuki replied.

"Sure you didn't have any homework you've forgotten?" asked her father.

"Yes," Madotsuki replied.

"Okay," her mother answered, "see you later, sweetie."

"Have a nice day at school, dear," said her father, as Madotsuki walked out of the door.

With that particularly uneventful conversation over, Madotsuki started the walk to her school. The apartment block she was part of was huge; many other students from her school lived in there. Often, Madotsuki would see their friends picking them up to walk with them. Madotsuki didn't really have any friends. But she didn't care.

The closest thing she had to a friend was Poniko Inoue, who lived by the sea. Poniko acted friendly to everyone- or at least, respectful. Poniko was admired much in the way that people admired Monoe: she was pretty, achieved good grades and was polite but preferred to be on her own. Unlike Monoe, however, who never talked to anyone she deemed inferior, Poniko at least had the decency to greet people like Madotsuki on their way to school.

"Good morning, Madotsuki," she said in her upper-class voice, tossing her blonde hair (which was always in her iconic ponytail) back over her shoulder. "I haven't talked to you in a while. Are you looking forward to the new term?"

"Hello, Poniko," Madotsuki replied. "No, I'm not looking forward to it."

Poniko smiled sympathetically. "I can understand why. Those Torinigen- don't they bully you an awful lot? It's not enviable to be on their bad side."

"They do," Madotsuki answered monotonously. Her conversation skills really weren't shining through today, and it showed. Poniko seemed to be trying her best not to look bored.

"But still," said Poniko briskly, "part of what they say is true, you know. You can't keep daydreaming like you do, it's bad for your focus."

And she walked off, leaving Madotsuki on her own- or at least, she thought she was alone. Almost instantaneously after Poniko had walked off, a thin, spindly hand closed around Madotsuki's shoulder, and a tall, gangly boy ran up beside Madotsuki, causing her to yelp slightly.

"The area you go to school?" he asked, gesturing to the tall school building, which loomed in the distance down the road. The boy was clearly foreign. He had fine black hair and pale skin, and his eyes were slightly far away from each other. Madotsuki knew for certain that she'd never met him before; she'd recognise a face like his.

"Uh, yeah," Madotsuki nodded, trying to grasp what he said. "Who are you?"

"Me?" the boy asked. "My name is Michael Sakamoto. But if you call me, Masada, and most people do. Sorry, my English, it still needs work." He shook Madotsuki's hand rather vigorously; the girl smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"My name's Madotsuki," she said. "Are you an exchangee?"

"Exchangee?" Masada echoed, looking confused.

"On the exchange project," Madotsuki explained.

"Oh!" Masada exclaimed, looking as if a light had just turned on in his head. "Yes, I am from the exchange project. Can I call Mado for short?"

"I suppose so," Madotsuki shrugged, unused to being the subject of such friendliness. "Well, uh..."

Out of the corner of her eye, Madotsuki spotted a bus shelter, although that wasn't the thing that was interesting. What she was more worried about was the people that were leaning against it- the three Torinigen girls, Natte, Cheval and Corti. All three had cigarettes in their hands, and had noticed Madotsuki, as well as Masada. Madotsuki could hear several remarks being made about the tall, foreign boy next to her, none of which were pleasant in any way and all of which probably counted as racist. Her face turned red with embarrassment, and even more so when Masada stared directly at Natte, Cheval and Corti, wondering what they were talking about.

"Mado, what are they talking about?" Masada asked loudly, his odd, moony eyes full of confusion. "They so embarrassed you?" The Torinigen girls heard this, and roared with laughter.

"Pay no attention to them," Madotsuki muttered. "Er, none of them are very nice, so it's best if you just, uh, stay away from them while you're here."

Masada made an odd, snorting laugh. "They all feel like a fool. Is that meant to be their nose?" He pointed at their faces, and while it was true that Natte, Cheval and Corti had very long, bird-like noses, Madotsuki wished Masada hadn't been quite so noisy about it. Usually, Madotsuki wouldn't really care in such a situation, but she could see Natte flicking a cigarette lighter in her hand as Cheval and Corti gave Madotsuki and Masada particularly frightening looks, so she decided it was best to get away as fast as possible.

"Oh, I just remembered," she said, with a sudden wave of false cheerfulness. "I have to practise for a triple marathon today. Er... see you later, Masada!"

And she ran away as fast as she could.

The next time Madotsuki had space to think was in History class. Madotsuki did take an interest in history, but not the way it was taught. Why just focus on the things that once happened just because they were important to the curriculum, Madotsuki never understood. For her, History was about exploration and discoveries, not grades.

When faced with a textbook, Madotsuki did not turn to the page she was to go to, which was a page about the French Revolution. Instead, she flicked to the back pages of the book, which were illustrated with colourful Peruvian and Aztec paintings, comparing the differences and similarities. This was much more interesting, Madotsuki thought.

That was when she noticed an odd new girl sitting next to her, who was not confused about why Madotsuki was not on the right page of the textbook. Instead, she was keenly looking over Madotsuki's shoulder, copying one of the pictures on the page into the margins of her exercise book in pencil. Madotsuki looked at her, and she squeaked and put down her pencil with a clatter.

"Sorry," said Madotsuki, "I don't think I've seen you in this class before. Are you on the exchange project?"

The girl shook her head. Her hair was short, brown and framed around her face, except her fringe, which flopped over her eyes. A bobbly knitted scarf was wrapped around her neck, and she wore a woolly hat on her head, even though it wasn't even cold outside. "I'm not an exchangee," she mumbled. "I got moved into this class. M-my name's Mafurako."

"Oh," said Madotsuki, wondering how Mafurako got moved if History classes weren't even put into groups by skill. She silently peered over the timid new girl's shoulder, to see that the margins of her exercise book were filled with doodles. The one Mafurako had copied from the textbook was an Aztec style monkey with four faces. The other doodles were all of differently-arranged blocks and cubes.

Madotsuki didn't know exactly how, but she could relate to Mafurako in a very strange way.

At the back of the classroom, studying of the French Revolution had somehow brought on a conversation about capital punishment.

"I believe it should only be used in the case of serious crime," Poniko said with all her usual primness, although a strange smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"It shouldn't exist at all," another student claimed. "Killing makes you just as bad as the killer in the first place!"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," said Cheval, her eyes drawn to the back of Madotsuki's head.

Half-past three found Madotsuki in the rain after the bell for hometime had rung. There was no umbrella in Madotsuki's bag, so Madotsuki had to start the gruelling walk home in the cold and wet. This, needless to say, put Madotsuki in a very bad mood.

This bad mood only worsened when Madotsuki encountered a roadblock in front of the road she usually took home.

Cursing loudly, Madotsuki noticed a street sign, reading 'Sechs Close'. Reluctantly, she decided to take it, in the hopes that she'd be able to find a side road that would lead her in the right direction.

Sechs Close was a tiny side street, filled with graffiti. The wall it ran against was almost mesmerising, as the rain blurred its many colours into a sort of neon rainbow. The pavement was covered in chalk, which was now a complete mess. Madotsuki was quite enjoying this quiet side-tour, but was quickly put off from that feeling by sensing the presence of somebody else.

"Oi!" a brash voice called. "What do you think you're doing here? This is Torinigen territory, so clear off, yeah?"

Corti.

There was no time to escape. Corti came out from a corner, her eyes catching a particularly nasty spark as she noticed Madotsuki.

"If it isn't Mado," she leered, mimicking Masada's foreign accent. "Me and my girls have a few things to say to you..." she pulled out a knife, "about what your new boyfriend did to us this morning after you ditched him.". It was then Madotsuki noticed a large, black bruise on the side of Corti's head. She didn't bother correcting her about Masada.

"We'll just do the same to you!"

The moment seemed to flit by. Madotsuki noticed a bike leaning against a wall behind Corti. She had to take it, or she would be beaten to a bloody pulp and left for dead in this tiny side-street.

Corti tried to close in on Madotsuki, but Madotsuki knocked her backwards with a feeble punch to where she had been bruised. While she had the chance, Madotsuki took the bike and rode out of Sechs Close as fast as she could, Corti screaming curses and names as she went, until Madotsuki couldn't hear her at all.

Eventually, she found herself in a forest, which Madotsuki was sure she had never been to before. The rain was still lashing down, which made the ground particularly hard to ride on. Madotsuki climbed off the bicycle, deciding to keep quiet about stealing it when she got home. If she ever did.

"Hey!" came a young male voice through the trees. "Are you lost?"

A brown-haired boy in a beige jumper and slacks walked towards Madotsuki, with a friendly smile. "I think I recognise you from school. Are you Madotsuki, from the year above? My name's Shitai."

"Uh, hi," said Madotsuki nervously. It was true, she did know who Shitai was, but she was confused as to why Shitai would even want to help her out. Shitai was in the year below Madotsuki and was popular and attractive. Madotsuki was neither.

"I heard the Torinigen girl yelling at you," he said. "I hate those Torinigen, all of them. Say, you know Monoe Blanche?"

Madotsuki nodded.

"And her little sister, Monoko? Yeah, they were horrible to her the other day, they told her she was ugly and unwanted. She cried for ages. Living with someone like Monoe must give her really bad self-esteem. I wish I was strong enough to stand up to the Torinigen. Actually, there are a lot of people I'd like to stand up to." He gave a nervous laugh. "Anyway, I live near here. I can show you the way home, if you want. Where do you live?"

"Nexus Street," Madotsuki said. "The apartment block."

"Gotcha," Shitai said, with a grin. "Follow me."

Shitai went through a bush, Madotsuki clambering through after him. He staggered up a hill, and came to a gate with a large jellyfish spray-painted onto it.

"Take two lefts, and you should end up at Nexus Street," he told Madotsuki. "Oh, and you might want to take this.". He handed Madotsuki a slightly old-looking umbrella.

"Is this yours?" she asked. Shitai shook his head.

"Picked it up off the floor, actually. See you later, Madotsuki!"

Thankfully, Shitai's directions were correct, and after a five-minute walk Madotsuki was back home. She managed to forge a tale about the roadblock and having to go back the other side of town, knowing that if she so much as mentioned Sechs Close her parents would go berserk.

"I met an exchange student today," said Madotsuki, changing the subject. "His name was Mas- er, I mean, Michael Sakamoto."

"That's nice, dear," her mother replied.

"And I also met someone called Mafurako who has an obsession with blocks," said Madotsuki.

"Uh-huh," her father muttered, turning a page of his newspaper.

"I'm going to go to bed early tonight," said Madotsuki, deciding that the conversation wasn't going to go much further from there. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, dear," her parents chorused.

Madotsuki stepped into her room. It was small and didn't have much, and the TV didn't receive any channels, but she wouldn't have it any other way. A Famicom sat next to the TV, with a small stack of games at its side. The largest thing in the room was the bookcase, which was stacked with books both fiction and non-fiction, but all of which were thoroughly worn and thumbed. A desk and a lamp stood next to it, also beside Madotsuki's bed- the only place she could truly relax.

The girl kicked off her shoes, and jumped in. After a few minutes of snuggling into a comfortable position, she stared at the door at the back of the room, which led to the balcony. She thought of Poniko, Masada, Mafurako and Shitai, and how her social circle had widened by three people in just one day. Even if the conversation she had with them was brief, some of the loneliness in Madotsuki's heart had gone.

And she fell asleep.