I was tossing and turning in bed, my mind racing with all sorts of thoughts I couldn't quite grasp. As I finally drifted off into a deep sleep, little did I know what was happening beneath the tatami mats…
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Inside the spaceship, a pink rabbit was complaining loudly. "Ugh, I'm so hungry! Why didn't we bring any food with us?"
"We thought we'd be back by last night," the boy in yellow replied with a sigh.
"I can't take it anymore!" The pink rabbit hopped towards the cargo bay door.
"Where are you going?" the boy called out urgently.
"Roppuru, I'm going to explore outside. Don't try to stop me."
"You can't, Chammy! The air out there is toxic - you won't be able to breathe!"
But the pink rabbit ignored him, leaping towards the door. "Don't worry, I may be small but I'm tough!"
With that, Chammy threw herself against the cargo bay door repeatedly. The impacts sent vibrations through the floor above.
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I jolted awake, feeling the tatami shaking beneath me. An earthquake? We get them often, but this felt different...
Suddenly another tremor lifted me right off the floor! As I came down, I caught a glimpse of something pink darting out from under the tatami.
Heart pounding, I shook Doraemon awake. "Doraemon! I just saw something pink run out from under the floor!"
The robot cat rubbed his eyes sleepily. "What? It's not a mouse, is it?"
"No no, it was definitely pink," I assured him.
We both fell silent as we heard noises coming from downstairs. Quietly, we crept out of my room and down the hallway.
As we reached the kitchen, we saw the refrigerator door standing open. And there, illuminated by the fridge light, was a small pink creature rummaging through the food!
Wait a second...isn't that the pink rabbit from my dreams? How is this possible?
Doraemon and I slowly approached the rabbit from behind. Suddenly it turned, saw us, and let out a startled yelp! We all jumped in surprise.
The rabbit leapt up, using Doraemon's round face as a springboard to reach the kitchen pipes. In a flash, it had squeezed through and escaped outside.
"After it!" Doraemon cried, pulling two Take-copter from his pocket. He tossed one to me and we flew out the window in hot pursuit.
"Stop, thief!" Doraemon shouted as we chased the nimble pink creature across rooftops and through alleyways.
Suddenly the rabbit took flight! Doraemon and I gaped in shock - since when could rabbits fly?
"That little guy sure is agile," Doraemon panted as we struggled to keep up.
Without warning, the rabbit began to falter. It dropped onto a nearby roof, gasping for air.
"Oh no, I can't...the air is so thick...and my body feels so heavy," it wheezed.
I landed beside the exhausted creature. "Are you okay, little rabbit?"
It looked up at me in fear.
"Oh no, I'm going to be eaten by primitive aliens from the edge of the universe!"
"Hey now, calling us primitive is a bit rude," Doraemon huffed as he touched down.
The rabbit dramatically flopped onto its back. "Fine then, roast me or stew me, do whatever you want!"
I ignored its theatrics, suddenly remembering something important. "Um, I have a question for you..."
"Don't bother, I taste terrible," it groaned.
"That's not what I meant!" I said, exasperated. "Did you...come here in a spaceship?"
The rabbit's eyes widened. "You know Roppuru?"
As Doraemon looked on in confusion, I explained about the strange visions I'd been having. The rabbit - Chammy - told us how she had escaped from the ship under my tatami mats.
"Under the tatami?" Doraemon exclaimed. "But that's impossible!"
Tatami mats...spaceships...suddenly it all clicked.
This was just like the plot of that Doraemon movie, 'The New Record of Nobita's Spaceblazer'! But how could scenes from a movie be coming to life? And how did I know about them before they happened?
My head was spinning as I tried to make sense of it all. One thing was clear though - this little pink rabbit was going to lead us on quite an adventure...
…
Just like that, after listening to Chammy, Doraemon and I returned to my room together.
When I pulled away the blanket and pillow on top of the tatami mat—
"So it's under the tatami!"
"It's connected to the spaceship's storage room," Doraemon said in surprise.
As I lifted the tatami board, a steel tunnel was revealed beneath.
"That's right, due to some coincidence, time and space shifted," Doraemon mused. "Afterwards, it became connected to under the tatami."
"But why did it appear in my mind?" I couldn't help but ask.
"I think it's because of the distortion. Roppuru must have been thinking about you so intensely, his feelings transcended time and space, and reached you through your dreams," Doraemon thought for a moment, then added.
"Alright, you two, I'm heading back!" Chammy said, jumping down through the tatami opening.
Doraemon and I looked at the dark, deep steel tunnel and hesitated.
"How about we go too?"
Since I already knew the story, I looked at Doraemon for confirmation.
"Alright!" Doraemon agreed after a moment's thought.
Both of us mimicked Chammy and jumped down.
I thought we'd be falling down, but when we landed, I realized we ended up on a wall instead.
Doraemon even tumbled head over heels.
"Careful, the direction of gravity here is different," Chammy, who arrived first, said from the side.
"You could've said that earlier!"
Doraemon complained, looking aggrieved.
Suddenly, Doraemon and I took a light breath, then paused, and took a deep breath again.
"The air here is so fresh!" I couldn't help but exclaim.
"It really is! So comfortable!" Doraemon said, enjoying himself.
"Come with me, please." Seeing that we'd started adapting to the environment, Chammy bounced off ahead, beckoning us.
While walking, Doraemon and I both marveled at the light feeling in our bodies inside the spaceship, following Chammy forward.
Suddenly, Chammy, who was walking ahead, noticed something. "Ah! Ah!"
"Roppuru, what's wrong?" Chammy anxiously shook the yellow-clothed boy lying on the floor.
Chammy shook him awake, but as soon as the boy saw us, he jumped in fright. "Who are you? Are you the pirates who've been chasing us?"
He was on his guard.
"Don't worry, we're not bad people!" I said helplessly.
"Wait, wait, you've misunderstood, Roppuru—" Chammy quickly jumped in to explain.
But before she finished, the yellow-clothed boy fainted again.
Later, we found out he'd just passed out from hunger.
So, we all fed him, chatting as he ate.
During the conversation, I learned his name was Roppuru.
"Earth? Galaxy? I've never heard of those!"
"And we've never heard of Koya Koya Planet, where you live!" While Roppuru and the others ate ravenously, we introduced ourselves and exchanged information.
"This is incredible—Earth and Koya Koya Planet are so far apart, yet somehow they've become connected." Doraemon couldn't help but marvel.
"Roppuru, do you know what happened?" Doraemon continued.
"I only know the ship failed during a hyperspace jump," Roppuru replied.
Worried we wouldn't understand, Roppuru explained, "Planets are often tens of thousands of light-years apart. Even at the speed of light, it would take tens of thousands of years to travel, so we cross space by jumping—hyperspace jumps."
Doraemon and I nodded to show we understood.
"Then why don't you just use the hyperspace jump to go home?" Doraemon blurted out, then realized how pointless that sounded—if they could go back, they would've done so already. The hyperspace jump device must be broken.
Roppuru smiled wryly and opened the hatch connecting to my room. "This used to be the ship's engine room, but when I open the door now, it's linked to your bedroom, Nobita."
"All the repair tools are in the storage room. Without them, we can't fix the ship."
I thought for a moment. Only the hatch's connection had changed; the original storage room should still exist.
So I called to Doraemon, "Doraemon, the Pass Loop!"
"Alright!" Doraemon pulled out a brass-colored loop.
He pressed it against the storage room wall, and instantly, we could see the storage room through the loop.
Doraemon tried reaching in with his hand—it went through.
"Wow, Earth gadgets really are magical." Roppuru also tried sticking his hand through, then we all climbed into the storage room together.
Roppuru enthusiastically introduced the contents of the storage room to us—plant seeds and other cargo.
Talking about the cargo, Roppuru gritted his teeth. "We used to have regular trade ships between planets, but pirates attacked and stole everything. We had no choice but to pilot our own ship and buy things ourselves."
"Don't you have anyone managing law and order?" I couldn't help but ask.
"No way. The universe is too big. The police can't monitor every corner," Roppuru said, helpless.
As we spoke, Roppuru walked over to a large mechanical device.
"I think the dimensional vibration core's axle is broken," he said worriedly, examining the damaged device.
I thought this was just a storage room, but it turned out the hyperspace jump device was right behind it. No wonder Roppuru and the others had no solutions before—if the mechanism broke and the space beyond the door disappeared, it was even more hopeless than a locked door.
Roppuru inspected it, picking up some tools to try to fix it.
"No good. It's impossible to repair," Roppuru said sadly.
I thought for a moment, then jokingly said, "Doraemon, let me ask you: before it broke, it was working, right?"
"Do you really need to ask such an obvious question?" Doraemon gave me a look as if I were an idiot.
"Did you forget the Time Cloth?" I grinned.
"I can't believe I almost forgot!" Doraemon smiled awkwardly and took out the Time Cloth.
He spread the cloth over the hyperspace jump device.
As the clock on the Time Cloth spun, the device began to change—lights on its panels started flickering on.
Suddenly, Chammy called from outside, "Roppuru! Come here! Come look!"
Roppuru, Doraemon, and I thought something had happened and rushed back to the cockpit.
As soon as we entered, we saw that the foggy haze outside the spaceship window was gone.
Instead, we were flying through the starry expanse of space.
"A sky full of stars—it's fixed!" Roppuru cheered, raising his fist in delight.
"I want to invite you both to visit Koya Koya Planet, Nobita, Doraemon," Roppuru said earnestly.
Hearing those words, I finally relaxed.
All my efforts just now had been to win Roppuru's trust.
After all, here in space, especially with a boy who can pilot a ship anywhere, you can't expect him to trust strangers easily—especially after being attacked by pirates. Anyone that naive would've died in space long ago.
If we couldn't earn his trust, we'd never have the chance to go to Koya Koya Planet.
I'd noticed all along how warily Roppuru watched Doraemon and me.
That's why I not only helped him, but also demonstrated our advanced technology—to show that even though we have powerful gadgets, we're choosing to help.
Now, Roppuru finally trusted us.
"Look, that's Koya Koya Planet!"
As the ship flew, Chammy jumped up in excitement.
Koya Koya Planet…
Here I come. My eyes must have looked different in that moment, even I wasn't sure what I was thinking.