4 – The same day, 8:00 PM

She noticed how much more frequently she had started blinking.

Haruki Misora was facing Asai Kei, practicing her lines for the school play, but their practice wasn’t going very efficiently. At first, Haruki assumed the reason was her dogged tiredness. But that wasn’t the only reason.

There was some kind of disorderly lump in the center of her chest. It had been there for quite some time, with the penchant of ignoring Haruki’s will and acting of its own accord. It made its own judgements, denying the answers Haruki had decided upon.

It’s like there’s someone else inside of me.

Another person was inside her heart, eating away at Haruki Misora. Little by little, the person she was was being rewritten. Every single word and expression from Kei served to speed its progress.

The larger the rift became, the easier it was to understand.

My desire is for Asai Kei to be happy.

That is my foundation. His judgments are always right, and I wish to make his wishes come true. For the past two years, I never doubted that. Even now, I still believe that is the right thing to do.

But the confusion in her chest had completely different desires. It kept presenting answers that were nothing like Haruki Misora’s logical conclusions.

The most substantial origin she could trace the lump back to was Souma Sumire.

Kei had wished to bring Souma Sumire back to life. Haruki agreed with that wish, or at least her reason did. She thought it was good for his wishes to come true. But the disordered lump that had seated itself in her chest offered a completely different response. It was unable to be happy about Souma Sumire’s rebirth. It was scared that Souma Sumire’s return would make the Reset, and by extension Haruki, worthless.

Kei chose to have Souma Sumire live outside of Sakurada. Haruki’s reason could also agree with that. His judgments were correct. Additionally, if Souma Sumire were to forget about all abilities, then the Reset would retain its value. And yet the chaos within her still objected. It suspected that Kei wanted to be with Souma Sumire. It still had not forgotten how two years ago, up on the rooftop, Kei and Souma Sumire had embraced.

The two wills within Haruki were in complete conflict due to Souma Sumire.

Every time Asai Kei uttered that girl’s name, the conflict deepened.

The disorder in her chest was standing against Kei’s judgment.

That makes it my enemy.

She needed to use her reason to put it out.

But as soon as she started to think about it, she became distracted. Before her eyes, Kei was reciting play lines. Even so, she couldn’t hear him very well. She knew she needed to respond, but she couldn’t remember what lines to say.

She was so tired. She suddenly let out a yawn, entirely involuntarily. She saw that in front of her, Kei had yawned at the same time. Something about that put her heart at ease.

Smiling, Kei spoke. “Well, no point in forcing ourselves. You can go ahead and take the bed.”

It was only right around 8 PM, and yet she felt unusually tired. Even Kei looked quite sleepy.

“Where are you going to sleep, Kei?”

With a smile, he tapped on the floor. “Well, I’ve been keeping this a secret, but I really like sleeping on the floor. Actually, it’s where I sleep every night.”

A lie.

Even Haruki could tell that much. After a moment of hesitation, she responded. “You are… lying.”

Kei shook his head. “No, it’s the truth.”

“Then I will also sleep on the floor.” With that, Haruki rolled over, laying down on the spot. It was so sudden that she herself wasn’t expecting it. Her tiredness was overtaking her rationality. The lump in her chest was exerting control.

With a troubled smile, Kei pleaded, “Haruki. Please, I’m begging you, use my bed. Do it for me.”

What a rare phrase, Haruki thought. I’m begging you. He almost never said things like that. Probably because he knew she would always go along with it when he asked her that way.

I shouldn’t cause any trouble for him. Repeating that thought countless times in her head, Haruki nodded. “Understood.”

She slowly raised her body. Her legs were somewhat unsteady. She realized she was much more tired than she had thought. Moving to the bed, she laid down on her stomach, pressing her head into the pillow. Even in the dream world, she could catch the faint scent of Kei in it.

Staying in that position, she spoke. Her voice came out muffled. “Kei. Do you not find it strange?”

“What?”

“I have never felt this tired before.”

“Yeah, same here. I have a theory about that.”

Haruki turned her head to look at Kei.

With another large yawn, he continued, “It’s hard enough to resist falling asleep, but it’s even harder to resist waking up.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, it’s been about six hours since we got here in the dream world. That means we’ve been asleep in the real world for six hours. A little longer for you, since you fell asleep before me.”

“That is correct.”

“That’s way too long for a nap. Not to mention, you can stay awake for far longer than you can stay asleep.”

“So we are trying to wake up in the real world?”

“Yup. When you fall asleep in the dream world, you wake up in reality. At least, I assume that’s how it works. It’s just a guess, but I can’t really imagine any other way.”

I see, Haruki thought. If Kei said so, then it must be true. On that, both her and the disorderly lump inside her could agree.

“G’night,” he said.

“I am still awake,” she replied, though her eyelids were heavy. They closed before she could stop them.

But there was something she had to say, so she forced her eyes back open.

“Kei,” escaped her lips.

✽

“Kei,” Haruki Misora called out, her voice raspy.

Asai Kei looked towards the sleepy girl. “What’s up?”

She was lying face down, her right cheek pressed to the pillow, eyes locked on him. “In truth, you do not like it, do you?”

“Don’t like what?”

“Our… school play. I rather… forced you to… do it alongside me.” She already sounded half-asleep. She continued, her voice quiet and frequently pausing. “I thought that… if I asked you… you would accept. I wasn’t entirely sure… but I still did regardless.”

Kei smiled, shaking his head. “Don’t think of it like that. I’m looking forward to everything. The festival, the play, and your performance, too.”

“Truly?”

“Of course.”

Kei wondered why she was so doubtful. It reminded him of what Oka Eri had said the day before.

Thought you hated that kind of stuff.

Perhaps that showed just how poorly he acted in the day to day. He never was very good at clearly showing his likes and dislikes. He figured that even back in elementary school, his parents likely didn’t know what kinds of foods he didn’t like.

I always figured that was something of a virtue.

There was a part of him that thought it was good to not make a big deal about liking something, and grin and bear it through the things he disliked. But if it was now to the point that even Haruki couldn’t tell, it was probably time to start being more open about his preferences.

After giving it some thought, Kei started speaking. “In all honesty, I really can’t stand shiitake mushrooms.”

Haruki lifted her head from the pillow in surprise. “But I put them in yesterday’s bentou.”

“I didn’t make a big deal out of it, but I really don’t care for the smell and the texture.”

She dropped her gaze, looking hurt. “I am so very sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. My point is, I was lying when I ate those mushrooms with a straight face. But I’m not lying when I say that I’m looking forward to the play.”

Haruki put her head back on the pillow, closing her eyes. “I am glad to hear that.”

Kei looked into her face as her eyes closed. She looked like a child who was exhausted from a full day of playing, finally getting to rest. Haruki didn’t fit the image of a lively child, but for just that moment, that was how she looked.

A short while later, Kei heard the long, soft breathing of sleep, and he stood up.

He walked over to the bed, pulling the covers over Haruki from their place at her feet. She didn’t stir, appearing to be in a sound sleep.

Put at ease, Kei turned towards his kitchen. His body begged him to lie down, even if it was on the floor, but he wanted to stay awake a little while longer. He just had to see what it was that Tyltyl had warned him about. He thought about making a scorching hot cup of coffee, so hot it would scald, just to help keep himself awake.

He filled a kettle with water, setting him on the stove. Then it happened.

A loud noise echoed from outside his window.

It was deafening and destructive, like a piece of the very planet had chipped off.

Outside the window, in the town of Sakurada, he saw it.

Atop the road that stood parallel to the apartment building, stretching out an unknown distance.

Put simply, it was like a great mass of all that was disgusting.

Anything and everything that humans had a psychological aversion to. A tank full of arthropods, a half-squished larvae, food that was rotted through, a malicious sneer strewn across someone’s face; if Kei took the pure disgust from all of those things, piling them up to the size of a building, he might begin to approach it.

Vomit rose up in his throat. It was completely revolting.

The shape was hemispherical. The color was a murky black, though it was hard to tell for certain from the dark of the night. The surface was slimy, like the liquid that might ooze out of a drain. Countless arms sprouted from the body as though making up some form of hair. The arms were crude and misshapen, like botched clay sculptures. They all had inconsistent numbers of fingers, some three, others eight, and still others five. Somehow, the five-fingered hands were what appeared the strangest. But why? Because they were so much like a human’s?

On top of all that, it had eyes. Eyes on the body, eyes on the arms, eyes in countless numbers. Vivid, human-like eyes that each looked like a parasite attached to a host.

It extended the hair-like arms, pulling down buildings. Each building it tore down was consumed, expanding the mass. Evidently, it wanted to wreak havoc across the city, growing alongside the destruction of the world.

It had to be the reason behind Tyltyl’s prohibition. But staying indoors didn’t seem to offer any kind of meaningful safety. Kei watched as several buildings collapsed before his very eyes.

Suddenly, it stopped, the hemisphere halting in place. A crack appeared in the side of the mass. Like a mouth opening… no, not like it. It was actually opening a mouth. There was no voice, but the air physically trembled. Pain erupted from deep inside of Kei’s ears. He instinctively clapped his hands on his head. A building close to it cracked and crumbled away.

Suddenly, Kei felt a tug on his right sleeve, and he whirled around.

At some point, Haruki had come to stand beside him. Even through his covered ears, he could hear a faint voice.

“What seems to be the matter?”

A lovely sound. A sense of relief filled Kei, as though he had been struggling deep underwater and finally reached the surface for a breath of air.

Kei removed his hands from his ears. The vibrations had already ceased.

Haruki looked out the window, muttering quietly.

“The monster.”

Certainly, it could only be described as a monster. But something was off. Haruki’s voice lacked even a hint of surprise.

“You… already knew about this?” Kei pressed.

Haruki tilted her head. As if she was confused by the question.

“The monster… is the monster. It comes every night to destroy the world.”

“What happens to the world once it’s destroyed?”

“I do not know. At some point, it is simply repaired.”

Somehow, that made sense.

Taking it one step at a time, everything fell into place.

The dream residents of Sakurada did the same thing as the residents of reality. Did that mean Kei and Haruki were in Kei’s room in reality? Of course not. But that did mean that before they went to sleep in reality, their dream selves had gone to sleep on the same hospital beds.

Right now, I am currently my dream world self.

Kei was sharing the body of his dream self, having swapped consciousnesses when he went to sleep. The same rule applied to Haruki. So, now that the real Haruki had gone to bed in the dream, she woke up in the real world, meaning the Haruki before him was the dream world version through and through.

Kei asked her a question. “So, does everyone know of the monster’s existence?”

Haruki, or at least her dream version, tilted her head. “Is that some kind of philosophical question?”

“No. Just give me a straight answer.”

Haruki nodded. “I should think that everyone knows about it. The monster comes to destroy the world.”

Kei sighed inwardly. So, how’s this supposed to relate to reality?

The monster was somehow accepted as a matter of course in this world.

Sure enough, Sakurada was entirely calm outside his window. A monster was on the loose, destroying the world, but there were no screams, and nobody looking out their windows.

But as Kei looked around the town, he noticed something.

Someone was there.

Standing in the monster’s path, far down the road, was a single person. He could hardly make it out, but it seemed to be a young girl. But just as he was straining his eyes to see the person clearer–

“Looking at the monster makes me feel sick,” Haruki interjected, pulling the curtains shut.

“Was… was there someone there, just now?”

“Where?”

“In the middle of the street, right in the monster’s path.”

“Oh.” Haruki nodded. “If you mean someone was outdoors, that would be Mytyl.”

“Mytyl?”

“Mytyl will not face any problems. She is protected by God.”

God. Tyltyl. Mytyl’s older brother, a false god created by Katagiri Honoka. The real god of the world was Katagiri Honoka, who was now Mytyl.

Why was she standing in front of the monster? And what on Earth was this monster?

Kei couldn’t keep his thoughts together. He was reaching his mental limits.

He sat down by the window.

“What seems to be the matter?” Haruki asked, worry coating her voice.

“I’m just so sleepy.”

He couldn’t fight the drowsiness any longer. His consciousness flickered.

Kei closed his eyes.

It’s dark.

So dark.

✽

A dark room. The feeling of a soft bed. The visual of curtains surrounding him.

Kei turned his head. Beside him, in the dark, he saw the outline of Haruki sitting in a metal folding chair.

“Good morning to you,” she greeted, her voice incredibly close.

His head hurt. Pulling up his body, he answered, “Morning. You could have turned on the light.”

“I did not want to wake you.”

He was in a hospital room. The hospital in the real world. He had fallen asleep in a dream world, waking up in the real world. At least, he should have. But he couldn’t think of any concrete way of proving that he was now in the real world.

Well, of course I can’t.

Even before he went into the dream, he had no way of absolutely proving he was in the real world.

He pulled back the curtains around his bed, looking out of the hospital room’s window.

It was a silent night. A night without any monsters.

With that evidence, the only conclusion he could draw was that he was back in the real world.

End of Chapter 1