Published at 26th of March 2019 12:07 am

Volume 1, Part 1

It's not like I've completely forgotten about it. I probably still remember this place, and I even dream of its scenery, just as I'm doing now.

I can only remember this place in my dreams.

Right—it's not like I've forgotten about it. I just can't find any clues to help me retrieve these memories. Nothing could possibly trigger my memories of this scene. There's simply nothing in the real world that resembles it at all. If I tried, I could certainly remember it, but I lack the opportunity to do so.

Nothing from my everyday life could possibly remind me of the person before me.

"Do you have a wish?"

The face of the person who calmly asked me that question, was continuously morphing into new and different faces. My dream was generated by my own subconscious, but somehow, I couldn't grasp the features of his (or her) face. I saw it, of course—at least, I believe I did. It's just that he (she) somehow resembled everyone and no one at the same time.

Back then, I guess I gave a passive, harmless answer to his (or her) question, though I don't remember my precise response. Anyhow, when he (she) heard my answer, I was presented with a container of some kind.

"This is a box that grants any wish."

It did look like a box, now that he (she) mentioned it.

I squinted at the box. My vision wasn't bad, but I still couldn't see it clearly. There was nothing in the box, yet it exuded a strange feeling. It was like holding a closed cookie box that made a rattling sound when you shook it, but was empty once you opened it.

I think I asked him (or her) something trivial at that point, along the lines of 'Why are you giving this to me?'

"Because you're truly interesting! I can't distinguish one human from another human, even though I'm fascinated by humanity. Ironic, don't you think?"

I didn't really understand what he (she) was trying to say, but I nodded halfheartedly nonetheless.

"But you're an exception—I can distinguish you from the rest of humanity. You might think that this is nothing special, but it's more than enough to capture my interest!"

I looked inside the box. Even though the box was empty, I felt as if I were being attacked by an unpleasant sensation and my entire body were being drawn toward the bottom of the box. I quickly looked away.

"This box will grant any wish. I don't care what you wish for—I won't stop you even if your wish destroys all of mankind. I'm just interested in what you, or your species, choose to wish for."

I said something in response, and he (she) smiled.

"Hehe… No, no. It's not some kind of special power. Humans already have the ability to grant wishes just by forming a clear image of what they desire. I'm only able to give that power a little push."

I accepted the box.

Of course, I wouldn't remember this dream when I woke up.

But I would clearly remember what I thought about him (or her). It was the same impression that I had of him (or her) in the dream.

Somehow, isn't that person—

—disgusting?

1st time

"I am Aya Otonashi. I'm pleased to meet you," says the transfer student with a faint smile.

23rd time

"I'm Aya Otonashi.…Regards," says the transfer student, uninterested, emotionlessly.

1,050th time

“Aya Otonashi,” utters the transfer student without even looking at us, seemingly bored beyond belief.

13,118th time

I look at transfer student Aya Otonashi, whose name I don't yet know, standing on the platform.

"Aya Otonashi."

The transfer student murmurs her name to her classmates in a low voice, as if she doesn't care whether we can understand her. Nevertheless, her voice is clear.

—Yeah. I somehow already know her name, even though I've just heard it for the first time.

We all wait with bated breath, but not because of the blunt, simple self-introduction that barely even qualifies as a greeting. It's probably because she is stunningly beautiful. She stands out effortlessly from everyone else in the room.

Everyone waits for her to continue speaking.

She opens her mouth.

"Kazuki Hoshino."

"…Huh?"

She calls out my name for some reason. Everyone else in the class looks at me curiously. Don't look at me like that, I'm just as clueless.

"I'm here to break you," she suddenly proclaims. "This is my 13,118th school transfer. Even I can't help but get annoyed after so many iterations. So for a change of pace, I'll declare war this time."

She doesn't even spare a glance for our dumbfounded classmates, and gazes straight at me.

"Kazuki Hoshino. I'll make you surrender. You'd better give me your most precious thing soon. Resistance is futile. Why? That's simple. Because I'll—"

Aya Otonashi smiles, and then finishes her sentence.

"—always be by your side, no matter how much time passes."

10,876th time

It's 'March 2nd'. It's supposed to be 'March 2nd' today.

Why am I confirming today's date?

…Probably because the sky's still cloudy, even though it's already March. That's almost certainly it. I'm a bit melancholic because of the weather; lately, the blue sky has been hiding behind the clouds.

Geez, I wonder when the weather will finally clear up.

I'm in my classroom before school starts, staring out the window, just idly thinking about nothing of import.

I guess I'm having these thoughts because I'm feeling unwell. No, I don't feel bad. I feel how I've always felt. I'm just…uncomfortable. I can't explain it, but it feels like I'm suddenly the only one without a shadow. It's more like the 'something's imperceptibly wrong' kind of uncomfortable.

…Odd. I can't come up with a reason. Nothing unusual happened yesterday, I ate breakfast this morning, I listened to the new album of my favorite artist on the train, and I got an uneventful 'average luck' rating according to the fortune-telling show that I happened to watch.

I decide not to wrack my brain any further thinking about it, and take an Umaibō [1] from my bag. Today's Umaibō is pork flavored. I take a bite. No matter how many I eat, I never get tired of that taste.

"Again with the Umaibō—? You really can't get enough of those, can you? If you keep eating Umaibō all the time, your blood will turn Umaibō-colored, you know?"

"…err, what color is that?"

"Who knows!"

The girl kidding around with me is my classmate Kokone Kirino. Her brown hair, somewhere between long and quite long, is bound in a ponytail high up on the back of her head. Kokone changes her hairstyle all the time, but she seems to like her current choice. At least, I think so—I feel like Kokone's recently been sticking with just this style.

Kokone casually grabs the seat beside me. She starts doing her makeup with the help of her blue hand mirror. She's also making use of a tool that I, as a guy, don't know very well. I wish she'd put this much effort into everything, and not just into doing her makeup.

"Come to think of it, you have a lot of blue stuff, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, I like blue... Ooh, right, Kazu-kun! Isn't there something different about me today? Isn't there?" Kokone suddenly says, looking at me with sparkling eyes.

"Hm…?"

How should I know? There's no way I could respond if you ask me that all of a sudden.

"I'll give you a hint! My charm point has changed!"

"Eh?"

I instinctively look at her breasts.

"Whoa, hey! Why my breasts?!"

Well, because you're always boasting that you finally crossed into D-cup territory, so I was sure…

"Of course my eyes are my charm point! And anyway, breasts don't just suddenly get bigger! Or is that what you'd like?! You closet perv! You titty maniac!"

"…Sorry."

There's no way I could have known about a self-proclaimed charm point like that, but I'll just apologize for now.

"…So?"

Kokone looks expectantly into my eyes. I have to admit her eyes are quite large. I feel a bit bashful as I realize this.

"…I think your face looks the same as always…?" I say, not really looking at her face.

"Eh? What? My face looks cute as always, you said?"

"No, I didn't."

"Say it!"

I am being compelled.

"To tell you the truth, I'm using mascara today. How is it? How is it?"

I don't see any difference. I can't distinguish between how she looked yesterday and how she looks today.

"……no, there's really no way I could judge something like that," I tell her in with utter honesty—and fail her test.

"'Something like that'…you say?!"

She hits me.

"Ow…"

"Tch! What a boring rascal you are!" she says in a forced voice, but…Aah, she might really be a bit angry. Kokone pretends to spit at me and walks off to show off her mascara-covered face to some of our other classmates.

"Haa…"

Now I'm tired. Kokone may be funny, but I can't cope with her temper.

"Done with your lover's quarrel?"

The first thing I see when I turn are three piercings in a right ear. There's only one person in my school with such piercings.

"…Daiya. That was nothing like a lover's quarrel. How the heck did you come to that conclusion?"

My friend Daiya Oomine just sneers at my objection. Yeah, he's arrogant as always. Well, I guess it would be weird if someone like Daiya were to abase himself. After all, he chooses to wear such extreme accessories and doesn't just ignore the school rules, but instead deliberately flaunts his violation of those rules.

"But did you really not notice the mascara? Even I noticed the difference. And I'm absolutely, completely uninterested in her."

"…Seriously?"

They are neighbors and have been childhood friends since kindergarten. That he isn't interested in her is undoubtedly a lie. That being said, overlooking something that even Daiya noticed might be a small problem. After all, he's totally uninterested in others and doesn't even seem to look at people.

"…But, y'know."

I have the feeling that she applied that mascara yesterday as well.

"I see, I got it, Kazu. So you told the bitch 'I'm not interested in you.' I agree with you. I'll adopt the same position. But I'll do it more bluntly."

"You malicious class president! I can hear you quite clearly!"

Daiya ignores the sharp-eared girl and keeps talking.

"Kazu, let's not talk about that irrelevant chick anymore—did you know that a transfer student's arriving today?"

"A transfer student?"

I'll confirm this again—it's 'March 2nd' today. Why would someone transfer in so late in the school year?

"A transfer student?! Really?!"

As expected, Kokone has heard us talking, and raises her voice to ask a question.

"Kiri. I'm not talking to you. Don't come butting in from over there. Oh, and don't come closer, either! That desperately made-up face of yours isn't good for my mental health."

"W-What—?! You're one to talk, Daiya! You should start fixing that dishonest personality of yours ASAP. Maybe we should hang you upside-down for 24 hours so some blood can finally get to your brain! Maybe you'll finally be able to say something of value after that."

In order to interrupt their mutual abuse-fest, I raise my voice a bit and return to the original topic.

"A transfer student, right? I think I heard something about that."

Daiya closes his mouth on cue and glares at me.

"…Who told you that?" he asks with a serious look.

"Eh? Why do you want to know?"

"Don't answer a question with a question."

"Err…who was it again? Weren't you the one who told me?"

"Impossible. I only heard about it just now when I went to the staff room. There shouldn't have been an opportunity for you to find out."

"Really?"

"This kind of rumor immediately spreads everywhere. But apparently even this babbler, Kiri, didn't know about it."

Daiya's probably right, considering Kiri's reaction just now. And not just her; no one in first year class 1-6 seems to have known.

"That's why I concluded that the information was kept secret until today, the day of the transfer. But if so, how did you find out?"

"…Err?"

I wonder.

"Well, whatever. But isn't it weird, Kazu? Why would someone transfer in at this point in the school year? There are probably special circumstances involved. For example, could she be some company chairman's problem child who was expelled from a bunch of other schools? If that were the case, it'd make sense that the information was hidden."

"Daiya, it's not good to be speculating about the transfer student like that; it's just prejudice on your part. I mean, that student's already in a difficult situation even without your 'help.' Also, everyone's listening on the sly."

The rest of the students, who have indeed been surreptitiously listening to our conversation, smile awkwardly.

"Ah? Why should I care?"

Uwaa…

The moment I let out a sigh at Daiya's high-handed attitude, the bell rings. My classmates scurry back to their seats.

Kokone, who sits next to the window, opens it and leans out. Apparently she wants to see the transfer student as soon as possible.

"Ooh!"

She raises her voice—she's probably spotted someone who looks like the transfer student. After letting out that "Ooh," Kokone then sits back in her seat with a frozen expression, even though she was so cheerful just moments ago before she looked out the window.

I wonder what's wrong.

Kokone smiles and murmurs 'this is amazing!' Everyone probably wants to know what's up, but our homeroom teacher enters the room at this point. The silhouette of a girl can be seen behind the cloudy glass of the classroom door. It has to be the transfer student. After looking around the classroom, the teacher realizes that everyone is wondering about the person behind the door, and quickly calls her in.

The silhouette behind the cloudy glass moves.

And then I see—her.

In an instant—

The scenery changes at once, as if I had been pushed off a cliff.

First, I hear a sound. The sound of the scenery being ripped away. Forcefully, violently, one image after another is thrust into my mind. Over and over, similar bits of scenery appear. I feel as if my consciousness is about to be blown away, but it's then pulled back and firmly fixed in place, as if it were forcibly crammed into a little metallic box. Déjà vu. Déjà vu.

"I am Aya Otonashi." I heard you.

"I'm Aya Otonashi." I heard you.

"I'm Aya Otonashi." Enough, I heard you already!

I reject the massive amount of information that's trying to pierce my consciousness. I mean, there's no way all this could fit. My brain would overload. I can't process it all.

"Ah…"

What,

What incomprehensible things—am I…?

I realize that my thoughts are becoming completely jumbled, and forcibly shut down my brain—and then I return.

Eh? What was I just thinking about?

Having lost my train of thought, I face the front of the room and look at her again. I look at the transfer student, Aya Otonashi, whose name I don't know yet.

"Aya Otonashi."

The transfer student murmurs her name in a low voice, as if she doesn't care whether we can understand her.

Aya Otonashi steps off the platform.

Her extremely simple self-introduction spawns a rush of chatter in the classroom.

She doesn't care one bit about her bewildered classmates, and starts walking.

Towards me.

Looking directly at my face.

She sits down naturally in the empty seat beside mine, almost as if this seat had been prepared for her from the start.

Otonashi-san scowls at me suspiciously as I watch her silently, like a deer caught in headlights.

…I guess I should say something.

"……Err, I'm pleased to meet you."

Her frown, however, does not change one bit.

"That's all?"

"Eh…?"

"I asked if that was all."

Was there something else to say? Even if you say so, I can't think of anything. After all, this is the first time we've met.

But the atmosphere forces me to say something.

"……Err, your uniform. Is that uniform from your previous school?"

Otonashi-san does not react to my frantic words in any way and just keeps staring at me.

"…Eh, well?"

Seeing my confusion, Otonashi-san lets out a sigh for some reason and smiles. Her smile seems to demonstrate amazement at a shallow-witted child.

"I'll tell you something good, Hoshino."

…Eh? I didn't tell her my name yet.

But that thought is a mere trifle. Otonashi-san says something to me that makes me sit completely still for a full five seconds.

"Kasumi Mogi is wearing light blue panties today."

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