"…Hey, what is that?"
"Hm? Ah, that's a traffic light. The color of the light shows whether you can pass or not. Red ans stop, green ans go, and yellow is the transition between the two."
"What about that?"
"A mailbox. If you put a letter inside, it'll be delivered to the place you specify."
"Then what about that?"
"A vending machine. If you put money in it, you can buy drinks."
Like that, the boy took Mio on a walk through the city streets.
Two full weeks had already passed since Mio appeared before him. By now, after reading every book in the house, Mio could converse in Japanese as fluently as soone who had lived in Japan for years. She had also gained a certain understanding of manners, behavior, and social common sense. After discussing it with Mana, the two decided it was about ti to take Mio outside and let her beco familiar with the city.
Along the way, Mio was as excited as a child visiting an amusent park for the first ti. Whenever she saw sothing new, she would ask the boy about it with a curious expression, and the boy would patiently explain each one.
To be honest, to the boy, whether it was a traffic light, a mailbox, or a vending machine, they were all just ordinary things he had long since gotten used to. Compared to them, the curiosity-filled Mio was far more interesting in his eyes.
"Um—my apologies. Since just now, it feels like I've been the only one asking questions."
Noticing the boy's gaze, Mio stopped sowhat awkwardly.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it." The boy shook his head and explained to Mio, "For soone seeing those things for the first ti, telling you not to be interested in them would be unreasonable."
"But you don't seem very interested in them. You've only been looking at . Did I say sothing strange and make you impatient?"
Mio said with a worried expression.
"That's not it."
Seeing that Mio had misunderstood, the boy denied it with a wry smile.
"It's true that the things on the street are all familiar to now. But that doesn't an I'm bored or impatient. As for why I've only been looking at you…"
"—Hm?"
Faced with Mio's overly pure and innocent gaze, the boy inexplicably felt his cheeks heat up. He turned his head away and answered sowhat hesitantly.
"Um… because you look very cute, Mio. Before I knew it, I was staring… Sorry."
"I see. Then that is good."
Seeing that the boy was not displeased, Mio let out a relieved breath.
However, while Mio was reassured, the boy instead felt sowhat unsatisfied. He had, by his own standards, summoned quite a bit of courage to say that aloud. Yet Mio's mild reaction made him feel as though he had thrown a punch into empty air.
"Uh… Though it may sound strange coming from , you're not angry?"
"Hm? Why?"
Mio tilted her head in confusion.
"Um… because staring at a woman all the ti is rude… sothing like that…"
The boy said awkwardly. He rembered that during class, a boy in his class had kept staring at a girl and had been called "gross" by her with a look of disgust. That scene had left a deep impression on him.
"No. Besides, the dictionary says 'cute' is a positive word. So it should be a complint toward , right? Why would I be angry?"
Mio shook her head and asked as though she found it unbelievable.
"…Hmph, hahaha. Yeah, that's true."
Hearing that, the boy froze for a while before letting out a dry laugh.
Although Mio had already learned language and gained so common sense, after all, it had only been two weeks since she woke up. Much of her understanding of knowledge and words was still on the literal level, and it was difficult for her to grasp their real feeling.
Perhaps he had been too impatient. After realizing that, the boy adjusted his mood and continued showing Mio around the city.
Mio was not an ordinary human.
No—more than that, she was not even a lifeform born through normal ans.
A "Spirit", according to Mio, among the words the boy knew, this was the description that best fit her existence.
An extraordinary lifeform born through techniques known as magecraft or sorcery.
Although it was information far beyond common sense, neither Mana nor the boy was particularly surprised when they heard it. On one hand, they had already witnessed Mio's abnormal power. On the other hand, perhaps deep down, both he and his sister still held a certain longing for the existence of supernatural power in this world.
"What is that?"
"Hm?"
Following the direction of Mio's finger, the boy saw a row of machines placed at the entrance of an arcade, each playing noisy music. Inside the large glass boxes, all sorts of stuffed toys were piled up.
"Ah, those are claw machines. There's a chanical arm at the top of the box, right? You control it from outside to grab the dolls inside."
"Hm… I see. How interesting."
After listening to the boy's explanation, Mio nodded as if she understood, then walked up to the claw machine and stared intently at the stuffed animals inside.
(Is she wanting that doll?)
Looking at where Mio's gaze seed to be directed, the boy took a coin from his wallet.
"I'll get it for you."
"…Eh?"
Hearing that, Mio raised her head. Her expression seed to speak of surprise and confusion.
The boy smiled wryly at her reaction, inserted the coin into the machine, and began moving the joystick according to the prompt.
And so, with his superb control skills, the boy got the prize in one clean attempt…
Unfortunately, such a manga protagonist-like developnt did not happen to him.
(Damn it… Isn't this claw's grip way too weak? Did they tamper with it or sothing?)
The boy's brows were tightly furrowed as he glared at the chanical claw with deep resentnt.
Complaints aside, this result was not particularly strange. The boy had never played this kind of claw machine before. His knowledge of it was limited to what he had heard and seen from others, so there was no way he could succeed on the first try.
The reason he did it was simply because he wanted to look cool in front of Mio.
(What do I do now?)
To be honest, the boy was troubled. Although the loose change in his wallet was still enough for one more try, if he failed again, not only would he lose all his pocket money, he would lose face too.
(It's… it's fine. This ti will definitely work…)
While comforting himself like that, the boy took out his last coins from his wallet. Although he understood that he had fallen into sothing similar to a gambler's mindset, he could not bring himself to stop. "Riding a tiger and being unable to get off" was probably exactly this feeling. (TL:it's a saying about once you start sothing you must follow it through)
Just as the boy was trembling and preparing to insert the coin into the machine, Mio suddenly reached out and gently held his hand.
"It's all right." Mio said gently, yet with certainty. "Don't put unnecessary pressure on yourself. Relax. Don't treat your previous mistakes as a burden. Accept them as experience. I believe you will definitely be able to do it."
"…Mio?"
Surprise appeared on the boy's face.
"A book said so."
"So you copied it directly?!"
The boy could not help retorting.
"Did I say sothing wrong?"
"…No. Not wrong at all."
The boy shook his head with a wry smile. Although the money he had spent truly hurt, it was not anything especially serious. Even if he failed, it did not an Mio would be disappointed in him because of that. What he had been hung up on was nothing more than a little useless male pride.
"…Whew."
After taking one long, deep breath, the boy relaxed the tension in his shoulders, closed his eyes, and recalled his dozen or so failures.
Indeed, just as Mio said, every failure was a form of experience. The strength of the claw, the position of the doll—what was the reason for failure? What needed to be corrected? Without understanding those things, repeating the attempt would only repeat the sa mistakes.
All that remained was staying calm and not making a nervous mistake. Thinking that, the boy slowly opened his eyes.
He inserted the coin, gripped the joystick, and stared closely at the claw. After confirming that it had moved to the position he wanted, he slamd the button.
The claw slowly descended, hooked onto the doll, and began rising. Under the boy's tense gaze, it crept along at a snail's pace.
—Thunk!
At last, the lifted doll did not fall midway like before, but smoothly dropped into the prize chute.
"I did it—! How's that? Now you know how aweso I am, right?!"
The boy could not help clenching his fist and shouting.
"Yes. That was wonderful."
Mio also clapped happily from the side.
To be honest, if judged by price alone, the money the boy had inserted would have been enough to buy a doll several tis bigger. But right now, he felt no sense of loss at all. The sense of accomplishnt that ca after more than a dozen failures was far more exhilarating than he had imagined.
Perhaps startled by the boy's volu, the arcade custors and pedestrians on the street all looked at him in surprise, then left with expressions that seed to say, "Ah, youth is wonderful."
"…"
Once his head cooled down, sha surged up, and the boy imdiately felt his cheeks grow hot. He quickly took out the small bear plush.
"H-Here. Take it, Mio."
"Eh? Didn't you obtain this? Why give it to ?"
Seeing the doll the boy handed over, Mio looked puzzled. The boy could not help freezing.
"Uh—you were staring at the dolls this whole ti, weren't you?"
Mio tilted her head.
"Mm… was I? I was simply thinking about what principle this machine uses to operate."
"…"
The boy opened his mouth blankly, rendered speechless. Thinking back now, Mio had never once said she wanted the doll. It had only been his one-sided misunderstanding.
In an instant, the boy's face, already warm, turned as red as a traffic light.
"A-Anyway! I'm giving this to you!"
Saying that, the boy practically forced the small bear plush into Mio's arms in self abandonnt.
"…? You are giving it… to ?"
A beat late, Mio finally reacted, looking sowhat at a loss.
"Yeah! That's right! I saw you staring so intently inside, so I thought you definitely liked this kind of doll!"
After saying that, the boy was so embarrassed by his own awkwardness that his whole body felt itchy. He turned away and showed Mio his back.
"Like…?"
Hearing that word, Mio lowered her head and silently gazed at the plush in her hands.
"Like… the emotion of feeling fondness… developing strong interest toward an object… —this is it. Expressing gratitude toward you, expressing thanks… no, that is not right. It should be…"
Her quiet murmuring sounded like she was reciting a dictionary as she sorted through her own thoughts. Mio then took a long, slow breath.
"Shinji."
Hearing Mio call his na, the boy—Takamiya Shinji—turned around instinctively.
In that instant, Shinji lost his words.
Mio hugged the small bear plush he had given her tightly to her chest, her cheeks faintly flushed as she showed a sweet smile.
Then, in a tone sowhat clumsy, yet filled with absolute happiness, she said,
"—Thank you. I am very happy. I 'like' you, Shinji."
It felt as if his heart had been shot through.
The surrounding scenery gradually blurred, and only Mio's figure grew clearer and clearer in his eyes, as though being carved into his mind.
(That's unfair.)
Shinji could not help thinking that. He knew Mio's choice of words was sowhat mistaken, yet he still could not suppress the expectation rising inside him.
It was a very common phenonon for soone Shinji's age. Faced with ordinary daily life that repeated day after day, dull, tasteless, and unchanging, a boy would always, amid doubts about life itself, fantasize about an epic unlike reality that suited his own wishes.
Boy ets girl.
A story like a light novel, where he ets a beautiful girl, falls in love, and while dating her, casually saves the world.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—just as Shinji was about to accept reality, Mio appeared. She t him, ca to know him, and beca family.
Then, like a moth flying into fla, Takamiya Shinji fell hopelessly in love with Takamiya Mio.
"I…"
Just as Shinji was about to respond, a sudden change occurred.
The leisurely blue sky, the towering buildings, the street with cars coming and going, and the beautiful girl before him—everything collapsed like toppled blocks, breaking apart into countless fragnts.
"Wah—w-what's going on?"
Looking at the space that had suddenly turned into a void, Shido looked around in confusion.
For so reason, he had been released from the identity of "Takamiya Shinji," but he had not awakened from the dream as he had before.
—No.
Strangely enough, even though Shido had not opened his mouth, his own voice echoed in this space on its own.
—There is soone else in your heart. You are not . You are not Takamiya Shinji.
—Who are you?
(Takamiya Shinji?)
Hearing that, Shido felt an instinctive rejection and resistance, and answered without thinking.
"Of course I'm Itsuka Shido! I'm not Takamiya Shinji!"
—I see…
Hearing Shido's answer, "Shinji's" voice took on a chill.
"Ugh—"
In an instant, a heavy pressure struck from behind, forcing Shido downward.
Perhaps because this was a dream, an endless ocean suddenly appeared out of thin air below him.
(Not good… I can't breathe…)
It felt as if soone had grabbed his head and shoved him into water. Shido desperately waved his arms and legs, trying to rise, yet he continued sinking irresistibly.
—This is Shinji and Mio's world, a mory belonging only to those two.
—If you are not "", then get the hell out of "my" world.
…
"—Pwah!"
Shido abruptly sat up from the bed. As if he had truly almost drowned and suffocated just now, he gasped for breath again and again.
"What… what the hell was that just now…"
Shido muttered in disbelief. It was clearly his own mory, yet he had been harshly scolded by the "himself" inside that mory and then forcefully kicked out of the dream. To be honest, that feeling was more terrifying than running into a ghost.
"Shido! Are you all right?"
Perhaps having heard the noise from inside the room, Tohka pushed open the door and entered with a worried expression.
"What happened, Shido? An enemy attack?"
Shielding Shido behind her, Tohka looked around the room warily and asked.
"No, it's fine, Tohka. I just… had a strange dream."
After taking a deep breath, Shido answered with a wry smile.
"I see… That's good."
Hearing that, Tohka let out a relieved breath and relaxed from her guarded stance.
"But Shido, are you really all right? You're covered in cold sweat, and your face looks exhausted. Did you have a nightmare?"
"A nightmare, huh… Well, judging by the result, it should count as one."
Thinking back on what had happened in the dream, the corner of Shido's eye twitched. Normally, once a person woke from a dream, what happened inside would quickly fade away. Yet the dreams he had been having these past few days were as clear as if they had been engraved into his DNA. He could not forget them even if he wanted to.
"Um… Shido, if you have any worries, you can tell . I'm always willing to talk with you."
After hesitating for a while, Tohka gathered her courage and suggested that.
"Thanks, Tohka. But I'm fine. You don't have to worry."
"…Is it sothing you can't tell ?"
Hearing Shido's gentle refusal, Tohka lowered her head, sowhat disappointed.
"It's not that I can't tell you. It's just not ti to say it yet."
Realizing that he had misspoken, Shido smiled wryly, stroked Tohka's head, and corrected himself.
"When the ti cos that I can say it, I'll definitely tell you. And when that happens, I'll need your help too, Tohka."
Hearing Shido's answer, Tohka's expression improved sowhat, and she nodded obediently.
"Mm. I understand."
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