“… Hmm…?”
Was I asleep…?
With sleepy eyes, I looked up at the ceiling and got up from bed with a rustle.
“I have to go to school…”
I had to get ready quickly and go to school.
With my eyes open, I rose from my place with familiar movements and started preparing to go to school…
‘What’s going on…’
There’s a strange sense of dissonance.
Why am I acting so naturally when I know nothing about the word ‘school’?
“School… what…?”
What even is that school?
At that moment of questioning,
“Gah…”
A severe headache struck, and strange memories began flooding my mind.
It felt as if someone was telling me that I had to behave this way.
At the same time, it was causing my head to spin with a peculiar sense of dissonance.
I clutched my head and gasped for breath.
“What is going on…?”
What is happening?
No, first…
‘Where in the world am I…?’
The moment that question arose, it was as if the fog that filled my head
I need to find out where I am right now.
I walked towards the window in a daze, sweating profusely.
As soon as I checked outside the window, I froze in place.
Before my eyes was a landscape I had never seen in my life, yet it felt strangely familiar to me.
“Where on earth is this…?”
Little by little, my original memories were returning.
I was certain that until just a moment ago, I had entered a dungeon to undergo a trial, and right after hearing the words that the trial was starting, the floor had opened, and I had fallen below.
And then I woke up here.
‘Is this… the place for undergoing trials?’
Despite that, something felt very off.
Tall buildings made of metal stood in long rows, and below them, numerous metallic lumps were moving around the streets.
Even though those things were something I was seeing for the first time, for some reason, I knew their name.
They were a type of transportation called cars.
‘Cars? School? What does all this mean…?’
What’s more, what is the identification of this memory, and what are these unknown pieces of knowledge?
Is it because everything is so confusing that I felt a growing anxiety that I shouldn’t just sit still?
Then, at that moment.
BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
“What, what is that?”
Startled by the strange sound coming from right behind me, I reflexively turned my head and saw a small, square object.
It was an object of a shape I had never seen in my life.
Yet somehow, that object also felt remarkably familiar to me.
Was it something called a smartphone?
I approached it with familiar steps and looked at the smartphone’s screen.
The notification window had the words ‘School Day’ written on it.
‘It says to go to school?’
Everything written here was utterly incomprehensible to me.
‘If this is a trial…’
I couldn’t even guess what kind of trial it was, but if this is a trial, I surely had to overcome it.
I didn’t know where I was, but one thing was certain: I wouldn’t be able to explain the current situation unless it was a trial.
Then it would be best to do as ordered for the time being.
I changed my clothes and stepped outside.
Even though I should normally be unsure of where to go, my body naturally started walking in a single direction.
I believed that if I walked that way, I would surely understand something, so I followed the path my instincts pointed me towards.
*
“It feels familiar, but it’s a place I’ve never seen…”
The place I arrived at was a gigantic building.
The surroundings were completely different from what I knew, and this place was even more so.
As I looked around, I saw students my age talking to each other and walking into the building.
Could this be the school?
While trying my best to ignore the persistent feeling of dissonance, I was about to step inside when…
Thud!
“Evan! Hello~!”
“…?!”
Someone with a familiar voice called my name.
I reflexively turned my head to look in the direction the voice had come from.
With long pink hair, a striking bosom that seemed to have three heads, and a pure yet beautiful appearance, a girl waved at me with a broad smile.
“Uriel…?”
It was Uriel.
“Yes, that’s right~ It’s Uriel~”
For some reason, Uriel seemed to be acting strangely.
Regardless, it was great news that Uriel was here.
For a moment, I doubted whether this was truly the Uriel I knew, but questioning right away didn’t seem appropriate.
It seemed crucial to first ask about the current situation.
There was no guarantee that knowing Uriel was sufficient, but she looked familiar enough, and I thought she might at least have some minimum information.
The fact that we met like this after falling suggests that Stella and Aria must surely be somewhere too.
I took a breath and asked Uriel quietly.
“Your presence here means… the others have come too?”
“Come here?”
“I mean… this world.”
I wasn’t certain if this was even a world, but since I woke up here right after falling there, it was logical to assume the others were in the same situation.
“?”
But for some reason, instead of answering my question, Uriel only tilted her head as if she didn’t understand what I was saying.
What’s this?
Is something wrong?
Feeling perplexed by Uriel’s lack of response, I was about to rephrase my question, but before I could, Uriel seemed to understand my meaning, her eyes shining as she nodded.
No… did she really understand?
“Yes, that’s right! Just a moment!”
With that, Uriel answered and then suddenly vanished.
The blank look on Uriel’s face, as if she didn’t quite get it, and her playful demeanor.
If she had landed in this place just like me, showing that kind of reaction was incomprehensible.
I had been feeling something strange for a while, and Uriel’s reaction reinforced that certainty.
“Evan~!”
While I was pondering over the situation, Uriel, who had briefly stepped away, returned and called out to me.
“I brought someone~!”
She mentioned bringing someone with her.
I turned my head to look behind Uriel.
“Hey, Evan.”
“Uh… hello.”
“What’s with the lackluster response?”
Stella said with a displeased expression, but I had no reply for her.
Stella also seemed off.
Her personality, her attire, and her way of speaking—everything about her felt strange.
‘What on earth happened…?’
At this point, I was beginning to genuinely doubt if this was indeed a trial.
From what I could see around me, this place felt just as real as actual reality.
Seeing my bewildered expression, Stella, still wearing an unhappy face, suddenly seemed to realize something. She smirked and stepped closer, nudging my side with her elbow.
“Looks like your girlfriend didn’t greet you first, huh?”
“G-girlfriend?”
What does that even mean?
I didn’t understand the meaning of the word girlfriend.
“Girlfriend? What do you mean…?”
“What? You don’t know? You’re really acting strange today.”
“I…”
I was treated like a weirdo for simply asking.
“Girlfriend, like, your girlfriend. Have you forgotten about your girlfriend?”
“G-girlfriend?”
Is the meaning of that word what I think it is?
I had never had a girlfriend in my life, so hearing that I had one felt like a thunderbolt out of the blue.
“What does this mean…”
Stumbling over my words seemed to annoy Stella, who looked at me in disbelief before scoffing and turning to the side.
“Hey, Aria. Your husband is saying he misses you.”
“… Can you not call me husband?”
That voice…?
It was a voice I had never heard before.
Though it was a voice unfamiliar to me, it felt strangely familiar.
As Stella nudged me forward, a girl who seemed hesitant stood before me.
With striking blonde hair and beautiful features, she fidgeted nervously, her blue eyes darting here and there.
I murmured the name of the girl in front of me in a trembling voice.
“Aria…?”
The girl standing before me,
The girl who had been blind and deaf,
was Aria, my fellow student from the academy, the Saint, and my companion…
“Evan… Brother.”
With her eyes wide open, she was definitely looking at me.
