The next thing I know, I’m sitting at a table in a coffee shop.
There was a cup of coffee in front of me that I didn’t know when it came, and the fact that it was completely cold made me realize that I had been asleep for a while.
“Dream ……… That’s right… It must be a dream…”
It’s a ridiculous and common transfer to another world.
An RPG-style adventurer’s dream with a setting and development that adolescent boys would want to see at least once.
There are swords, there is magic, and there are extreme situations where life is in danger, and because of that state, I can walk with my childhood friend who became estranged… A dream that can not be realized in reality.
When I noticed that my hand was still firmly placed on the magic circle of the book.
I’m sure I just had the “best dream” I could ever hope for.
This book might be the real deal… At the moment I thought so, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of emptiness and loss.
A dream is only a dream… not reality.
In reality, Amane is still avoiding me and there is no way to talk to her.
“Trigger, huh…?”
“Oh? Looks like you just woke up at the right moment, student”
As I muttered to myself, Suzu-nee appeared with a cup of coffee. She seemed to have rewarmed the coffee that had gone cold.
I thought I’d have to pay extra, but Suzu-nee said, “It’s okay, something like this.”
At that moment, the events of the dream I had just had suddenly came to mind.
“Hey, Suzu-nee… Maybe Amane came here too?”
“………… Hmm? What’s up with you all of a sudden, what makes you think that?”
Suzu-nee showed a slight sign of thinking about my question, but she asked me back as if she was dumbfounded, but without giving a clear answer.
Why, she said… because I just had a dream that was really convenient for me.
But as I was wondering how to answer, Suzu-nee gave me the answer.
“……… She came. Always “alone”.”
The way she closes one eye and lets out a sigh look like… she’s truly dismayed.
However, it seemed Suzu-nee’s attitude, which normally I would have felt nothing and just thought she was blaming me for being pathetic, seemed to be telling me something.
In that case … This would be a stupid way of thinking even for me, but I still believed in the dream… No, I thought it would be a good idea to work with it as a guideline.
“Always alone…?”
I stood up with renewed determination.
I’ve been given plenty of opportunities… Then it’s my job to act.
When I said that, Suzu-nee looked surprised, but she immediately raised the corner of her mouth and grinned.
“Okay. Well, then you’re banned from this place unless you both come, so keep that in mind.”
“………… Ro~ger”
*
“Ah……”
“U…”
The moment I ran out of the house early in the morning with a lot of energy, there was Amane standing there in her school uniform, who had also just left the house.
But her expression looks grim as usual… After all, reality is different from the dream.
Before I can say anything else, Amane turns her whole body away with a scowl on her face… Well, it’s natural to look in that direction because that’s the direction of the school, but the fact that she doesn’t respond to me when our eyes meet, a salty response that I’ve never gotten used to even after years of experience, almost shakes my resolve from yesterday with Suzu-nee.
“Wouldn’t it be better to do nothing?”
The wimpy part of my mind is tempting me with easy answers.
Rather than do something more and make it worse, I thought…
But as I do so, I suddenly remember the dream I had last night.
It was a dream, but it had a strange reality to it. It wasn’t about the story or the scenery, but about my own psychology.
In the dream, I always felt guilty for taking advantage of the “life-or-death situation” to make up with Amane.
I wondered to myself what I was talking about in a situation where there was nothing to do but live or die with monsters roaming around, but still, when I thought of Amane, it seemed like “a very convenient situation to repair our relationship”.
I don’t want to make a coincidence as a trigger… so I exercised my selfish willpower and said just one word to her, who had already turned her back and started walking away.
“G-Good morning…”
“…………”
The moment I said that she suddenly stopped walking.
Just one word, a common morning greeting that anyone can do… How many years did I spend just saying this one word?
Since that day when I was suddenly estranged and rejected, I was afraid of being disliked and rejected even more, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
This one word may lead to more rejection… Of course, there is that fear, but not making a start from me is…… unbearable.
But Amane, who had stopped walking, did not look at me, she just stood there. I couldn’t see her face, so I couldn’t read her emotions.
The sight of her gradually made me more and more afraid… Was it still better to do nothing?
After all, is it useless? …When I think of this, I naturally down my head.
“………………Good morning”
“……Eh!?”
At that time, it was a small, very small whisper, but I certainly heard Amane’s voice.
However, when I was surprised and raised my face, Amane had already started running.
It was as if she was in a hurry to escape from something…
“Just now… I certain she replied?”
It was the first time in years that I was able to communicate with just two words, which surprised me more than delighted me, and I stood there dumbfounded until a few minutes later when my mother said, “What are you doing? You’ll be late”.