Difference between revisions of "Summary:Yumi and the Nightmare Painter"

Painter stares into the shroud for a time before turning and walking along the street at the perimeter of the city. He passes Akane's [[capstone painting]], on the outside wall of a windowless building, followed by the blank wall where his own most recent attempt at a capstone painting has been whitewashed. The painting was of "the star," which is actually a planet with living beings on it, inspired by the announcement that a [[space bus|spaceship]] will voyage to that celestial body. Painter determines he needs to whitewash the wall again before noticing a disturbed area on the surface of the shroud, indicating that a [[nightmare]] has passed through. He tracks it into the city, following a few spots of dark, steaming residue, until he finds it down a dark, narrow alley. The nightmare is distracted by its victim, head stuck through the wall and into the building, as Nikaro begins a painting of bamboo. The creature turns to Painter and begins approaching, but is soon transformed into black bamboo. The bamboo evaporates, and Painter gathers his things and continues to patrol.

Hoid explains the mysterious past behind the advent of the nightmares, the shroud, and the hoinhion lines, before getting to Painter as he arrives at foreman [[Sukishi]]'s office. Nikaro turns in two bamboo paintings, takes his wage, and leaves as Sukishi eyes him skeptically and berrates him about not properly tailoring his drawings to the appearance of nightmares. Painter then walks to the [[Noodle Pupil]], enters, and takes a seat at the bar, asking [[Design]] for his usual order. As he eats, Painter questions Design about his self-worth, which she mistakenly interprets as a request for a discount. Design encourages Nikaro to socialize with the other painters meeting at the establishment, but he refuses. After finishing his meal, Painter pays for his highly discounted food and exits the restaurant. As he is on his way home to watch his favorite [[hion viewer]] program, Painter spots the signs of a nightmare that has passed by. He ignores it at first, but minutes later doubles back in search of the nightmare.

Painter considers how he wants to help Yumi but worries he will not be up to the real task. This fear is eased when Yumi explains they will use "art" to draw the spirits. TheThey then leave the wagon, and walk past villagers to the cold spring for the riskritual bath. Here Painter realizes he will have to undress. Yumi insists she must bathe as well, before disrobing and entering the water. She asks Nikaro not to look, and he closes his eyes as Chaeyung and Hwanji approach, also naked, and lead him into the water. They wash him, not seeming to notice any anatomical anomalies. At one point Painter slips, causing him to open his eyes, and he catches Yumi staring at him. She apologizes and they return to bathing. They touch again, by accident, and this time notice an exchange of emotions that comes with it. They finish bathing and the attendants leave. Painter reflects on his situation, recalling he needs to report the stable nightmare still, but decides for now all he can do is help Yumi. They realize she has been able to interact with the water without realizing it, but aren't sure of the implications. One at a time they leave the spring to get dressed, and as Painter is being dressed, he faints.

Painter wakes in his own apartment to the sound of someone at the door. He thinks shehe must have been dreaming, but Yumi sits up next to him. HePainter reaches for her, and realizes that he has become as ghostly as Yumi had been before.

* [[Liyun]] (mentioned only)

After eleven days, Yumi finally decides that Painter is ready to begin stacking stones, so she begins to instruct him on how to set a good base. Nikaro succeeds in a few small stacks and admits that Yumi's training has actually helped, which is deeply encouraging to Yumi. Painter is less excited when she explains he will need much more complicated stacks to attract a spirit. They continue practicing, Yumi still focused but less overbearing. Painter watches Yumi stacks the souls of stones, which both impresses him and teaches him to respect her artform. He thinks that he can see a passion in her that he identifies with but has never seen in someone else before. He also begins to realize how difficult their situation has been for her, and is able to empathize with her better. Suddenly there is a disturbance nearby, and Painter leaves to investigate. Scholars from the [[Institute of Mechanical Solutions]] in Torio City have arrived in Gongsha. The lead scholar announces that they have heard about the yoki-hijo's problems and so have arrived with a [[machine]] that can stack rocks to summon the spirits.

Back in Nikaro's apartment Yumi rants about the arrival of the scholars and their machine. Painter is defends the idea of the machine, pointing at the precise nature of the yoki-hijo's job and the way machines have improved the lives of people in his own world. Yumi continues searching for reasons she dislikes the machine, thinking it must be part of why the spirits called out for her aid. Eventually she settles and begins to practice painting bamboo, though she feels ready to advance to something new. There is a knock at the door, which Yumi opens to reveal not just Akane--who has been inviting her to eat frequently--but also Tojin, Masaka, and Izzy. They insist that she take a break from her alleged studies and join them for dinner. Painter tells her to send them away, but Yumi can't stand the idea of another day spent painting bamboo and decides to go.

After they have been left alone in the orchard shrine, they cross through the orchard to the east side of town. They remove most of their clothing, to give the appearance of a common worker, and sneak the final distance to the scholars' tent. Yumi passes through the wall of the tent and witnesseswatches the scholars as troubleshooting their machine. [[Sunjun]] is working on the machine and believes that the problem is the power source, though [[Gyundok]], the lead scholar, says they never had this problem with the [[father machine]]. Gyundok tells Sunjun and the lounging [[Honam]] to prime it, but they refuse. They consider waiting for the local yoki-hijo to draw a spirit, but expect this is unlikely to happen. The [[fourth scholar]] eventually agrees to prime the machine, so he places his hand on a special plate at the heart of the machine. Yumi observes hion lines appear between him and the plate, and as she looks closer sees an additional pair of lines appear from herself. The machine starts working, and the scholars celebrate--except for Sunjun who noticed the lines from Yumi. He believes a spirit is nearby and alerts the others. They activate a piece of equipment which points toward Yumi, and she flees.

One week later, in Painter's apartment, they watch the final episode of ''[[Seasons of Regret]]'', which closes with a kiss--to Yumi's shock--and a sad ending. They discuss the ending as Yumi looks out through the window. When Nikaro suggests returning to practice, Yumi declares that she is tired of practicing and wishes to go hunting the stable nightmare. Painter tries to discourage her, and has been stalling for a while now, but she insists. She takes the painter equipment and sets out into the city, first working her way toward the shroud. They walk until Nikaro spots the signs of a nightmare, and they follow. Painter becomes concerned that the foreman may have left his wedge of the city unpatrolled, assuming that Painter was shirking his duties for some time and his area was inactive. Eventually they catch up to the nightmare. Painter sees it is not the stable nightmare and urges Yumi to move on, but Yumi wants to take action. She tries to confront the nightmare, but freezes up when she sees it. While trying to coach her, the spider-like nightmare hears Nikaro. It draws closer to him and attacks, feeding on his essence. Yumi's scream frightens it away, and Painter is okay, but the noise also summons the attention of Akane and Tojin.

Akane and Tojin confront Yumi and realize she is trying to do Nikaro's job while he is on leave. Tojin rushes to find some fellow painter'spainters to cover for them so that they can talk more with Yumi. They make their way to the Noodle Pupil and are joined by Tojin, Izzy, and Masaka. They comfort Yumi and she slowly makes her way out of her shell with them. Painter sits at a table nearby and speaks with Design, discussing his attraction toward her. The others eventually begin to explain that Painter is a liar, and Nikaro decides to leave.

* [[AkaneNikaro]]

* [[IzumakamoAkane]]

Back at the Noodle PrincessPupil, Yumi drinks broth to warm herself as the otherothers comfort her. Nikaro feels worn out, after being drained by the nightmare and helping heal Yumi. Tojin arrives to report that the foreman believed him about the stable nightmare, and thatsummoned the Dreamwatch have been summoned. Izzy gibes that Nikaro probably fled to another city after seeing the nightmare, but Yumi defends him. Design approaches and reminds the group that theirthe spaceship is scheduled to land on the "star". She turns on the hion viewer, and they all witness as the explorers land on thea watery planet and make first contact with the four-armed [[Sho Del]] living there. Yumi and Painter are shocked to discover shethat it is not from thatYumi's planet.

* [[IzzyYumi]] (mentioned only)

* [[ChaeyungYumi]]

In the shrine, Painter receives a map of Torio from Liyun and shares some empathetic words with her, thanking her for her patience. He sketches Masaka's map over it and they confirm that their worlds overlap witheach one anotherother. They decide it is time to destroy the machine. At Yumi's urging, Painter approaches Liyun and hisher attendants withto an explanationexplain that the spirits have directed her to destroy the machine. They acknowledge the potential conseqsuences,consequences but agree to help. Liyun sends Hwanji to get the bailiff, and they gather several villagers who will help them destroy the machine if the scholars stand in their way. When they reach the scholars' tent, they explain what they are there to do. The lead scholar is unsurprised, and calls for Sunjun, explaining it is time for a confrontation. He asks for Nikaro's theory on what is happening as the other scholars bring out their machine. His idea amuses Gyundok, who says it is wrong but a good guess. Painter notices that everyone has become very still, and as he watches they all begin turning into nightmares. He tries to destroy the machine but is stopped by Gyundok, who is also a nightmare along with the other scholars. Nikaro asks about the others as their surroundings also disintegrate into the shroud, and the scholar explains that they don't understand their true natures. Liyun transforms more fully and Painter realizes that she iswas the stable nightmare they were hunting for. Lastly, he turns to see Yumi turning into a nightmare as well. Gyundok apologiesapologizes itfor tooktaking so long for this to allreach come to athis headpoint, explaining that they had troubles with their power source and needed some time to catch some rogue spirits. Painter begs, but the man explains "the machine is lord now". They flip a switch on the machine which severs the Connection between Yumi and Nikaro. Nikaro feels himself being shot like an arrow back to his own home and into his body, which painfully snaps back intosnapping his own physical appearance.

Yumi dreams, hearing the voices of the scholars discussing what to do with her memories. Then she awakens in her wagon, repeating the day once again. Her attendants never arrive however, and eventually, Liyun opens the door herself, lookinguncharacteristically frazzleddisheveled. She explains there is a sickness in the town and Yumi must spend the day in her wagon in prayerpraying and meditationmeditating. Yumi forcefully asks to attend the Festival of Reveals, and shockingly, Liyun approves, to the yoki-hijo's shock. Before leaving, Liyun pauses awkwardly and drops a piece of paper on the ground. She watches Liyun departsdepart and notices how empty the town looks. She picks up the painting and after a moment of consideration, her memories come flooding back.

Painter locates the temporary headquarters of the Dreamwatch who have recently relocated toin Kilahito. [[Hikiri]] answers the door and brings Nikaro inside when he reports that he saw the stable nightmare. Inside, Nikaro meets [[Tesuaka]] and some other Dreamwatch members. Tesuaka tells Hikiri to take his statement and send him along. Painter tries to explain that an army of one hundred nightmares will be attacking from the west, but they don't take him seriously. Tesuaka says some false words of encouragement, saying perhaps he will be good enough to be in the Dreamwatch one day. Hikiri guides Nikaro to the door and Hoid interjects some commentary about heroes not living up to your expectations. Painter asks about what Tesuaka said, and Hikri explains that he simply needs to be content with his job because joining the Dreamwatch is all about connections that Nikaro will never have. He recognizes now that he and his friends never even had a chance to be part of the Dreamwatch, but he is unable to fully appreciate this under the weight of the realization that the city will be under attack and he is completely alone.

Thirty-seven painters have gathered on the west side of town. They wait, chat, and check their supplies. AkanaAkane asks Nikaro again what they are doing, and he explains, but a full hour passes and the painters are getting restless. Akane asks with concern after Yumi's safety, and Painter promises she will be staying away from this fight. Nikaro again insists that the stable nightmares will come and Akane asks him to confront the possibility that he has imagined everything. He does, out of respect, and promises that if the nightmares do not come he will get help. Masaka then notices the shroud is rippling, and the army of stable nightmares begins to emerge.

Yumi lands just outside the city and confronts the four scholars. They attack, and she renders their attacks ineffective; then Yumi forces them into their human forms, freeing them slightly from the control of the machine. They are deeply apologetic, expressing their shame and sorryregret, but explain that the father machine cannot be defeated. They gave it instructions to produce energy and to protect itself, and it has used Investiture to do so. When it consumed the souls of its creators, they became part of the machine in a way, and so joined with the mission to protect it. The machine has also established a shield around itself. With nothing more to gain from the scholars, Yumi changes into her blue dress and steps into the ruins of Torio City.

The painters form a tight circle to defend against the nightmares, with Nikaro running back and forth to shore up weak spots. Unlike typical nightmares, these don't evaporate once painted, and the painters are barely holdinghold togetheron. Hoid explains that they would be overwhelmed if the father machine were not distracted by Yumi, leaving the nightmares more timid than they would otherwise be. One painter, [[Nanakai]], is wounded and Nikaro steps up using bamboo to freeze three nightmares at once.

Yumi is frustrated as she is unable to penetrate the machine's barrier. She feels a light Connection to Nikaro and can sense that he is in danger. Yumi gets an impression that even if they survive the initial attack, the machine will continue sending nightmares until Kilahito is rubble. She exits the exhibit hall and goes out intoenters the courtyard full of rubble, then begins to stack--letting loose with all of her skill.

Hoid muses about the nature of stories, and apologizes to his audience for having to share this sad ending with them. He says that Nikaro refused to accept this ending, and sochose pickedto pick up painthis brushpaintbrush and ink, and beganbegin painting on the blank wall that had been reserved for his capstone painting. The sun begins to shineshining through the shroud, causing the people to panic. Ignoring the sun, Nikaro paints the scene of Yumi as they flew on the tree together. He paints calmly as the shroud continues to evaporateevaporates, andthen feels a touch on his arm. Smoke from the shroud clings to him, though nobody notices amid everything else happening. Nikaro finishes his painting and then turns to the vortex of smoke, with a dark shape inside reaching outward him. He drops his brush and takes her hand, and urges her to believe that she deserves to live on for herself. Yumi emerges fully and they cling to one another as the shroud vanishes completely.

{{summaries|completedone}}