I was looking at her quietly, just letting the mont stretch, when a question I had buried deep inside myself suddenly floated back to the surface. It was sothing that had been sitting in the back of my mind ever since I ca to this place. I’d ant to ask it sooner, but so many things had happened—one disaster after another—that it had been pushed aside, forgotten under the weight of survival and confusion.
Still, now that things were calm, even for just a mont, it refused to stay silent.
"Princess, can I ask you sothing?" I said at last, my voice breaking the stillness.
"What is it?" she replied, turning to look at . There was a faint pause in her movent, like she was trying to read my expression. She probably found it strange that I’d suddenly shifted the topic so abruptly.
I hesitated for half a second, then forced the words out. "Do you think... we’ll be able to go back ho?"
For a brief mont, her eyes widened, clearly caught off guard by the question. It wasn’t anger or annoyance—just surprise, pure and simple. Then she smiled, soft and composed, as if she had already thought about this before.
"Well, if you ask ," she said, "I think you all will. My lover and I will cooperate to find your world and send you all back ho—if that’s truly what you want."
The way she said it carried an almost unreasonable level of confidence. There was no doubt in her tone, no hesitation. And when she ntioned her lover, sothing subtle but unmistakable changed about her. Her posture relaxed, her voice ward, and there was even a slight flush on her cheeks.
Now that I thought about it, she had been talking about him a lot lately. Every ti his na or role ca up, she spoke with absolute certainty, like his existence alone was enough to reassure her that everything would work out in the end.
"You... really love your boyfriend, huh?" I said, a crooked smile tugging at my lips.
"He’s the best in the world," she replied imdiately. "I don’t think any man could ever compare to him."
There wasn’t even a second of hesitation. No embarrassnt. No second-guessing. The words flowed out of her naturally, as if they were facts carved into her heart.
She had to be deeply in love to say sothing like that so easily. So openly. The depth of her feelings was almost overwhelming, to the point where it felt unreal—almost ridiculous in how pure it sounded.
"I wish soone could love like that..."
The mont the words left my mouth, I realized I hadn’t ant to say them out loud. They slipped out raw and exposed, like sothing torn straight from my chest. I hadn’t planned it, hadn’t thought it through—it was just an unfiltered emotion escaping before I could stop it.
"I’m sorry, Princess," I added quickly. "That was... kind of weird to say."
"It’s fine," she said calmly. "You must have been holding that in for a long ti if it ca out so unconsciously."
Her words hit closer to the truth than I expected.
"Well, to be honest," I said slowly, "I think I was loved unconditionally at so point. Or at least... it felt that way back then. But before I really understood it, it was already too late. And little by little, I started realizing that I might never experience that kind of love again..."
"Didn’t you experience that with your lover?" she asked, her voice gentle but curious.
Did I?
Had I ever experienced that kind of love with Shindo-kun?
If I thought about it carefully, the answer wasn’t a simple no. At so point, maybe I did. He had been kind to . Attentive. He played the role of a boyfriend well enough that I never questioned it. I never felt like sothing was obviously wrong.
But sowhere along the way, sothing changed.
At first, it was subtle—just a faint sense of unease. Then regret crept in, slow and quiet. I started feeling like I was losing sothing important, though I couldn’t tell what it was at the ti. I had taken it for granted, convinced it would always be there, that it would never leave .
Because of that, I never truly thought about the consequences of my choices. I didn’t consider how fragile emotions could be, or how easily sothing precious could slip away if you treated it like it was guaranteed.
Eventually, my love for Shindo-kun began to fade. That spark I felt when I first saw him—when my heart raced just from looking at him—was gone. And when I finally looked back honestly, I realized sothing painful.
My love for him had been shallow from the start.
It was love at first sight, based on appearances alone. On surface-level attraction. Because my feelings were so shallow, I never took the ti to understand my own heart properly. And by the ti I realized my mistake, it was already too late.
So no, I couldn’t say with certainty that I had been loved deeply by him.
It was around then that another realization hit —one that hurt far more. Soone else had always been there. Soone who watched over quietly. Soone who accepted all my flaws without ever asking to change. Soone who loved silently, patiently, without demanding anything in return.
And I never noticed.
By the ti I did, they were already gone. And with them, that warmth—the feeling of being loved without conditions—disappeared forever.
"Well... I guess so," I finally said. "But not from Shindo-k— I an, Amakawa-kun. It wasn’t him."
I lowered my gaze, my voice growing softer. "It was from soone else. From soone who was always beside . From soone who loved , flaws and all. From soone... I can’t see anymore."
The Princess didn’t respond right away. The silence stretched, heavy but not uncomfortable.
"I’m sorry," she said at last. "I didn’t an to make you bring that up."
"No, it’s okay," I replied, shaking my head. "Talking about it actually helps. It helps deal with losing soone important. I think... keeping all of this bottled up has been stressing out more than I realized."
And that was the truth. If I had kept all these thoughts buried inside, I would’ve eventually broken under the weight of them. Letting it out—even just a little—made it easier to breathe.
"Well, that’s good then," she said, offering a small smile. "Now, break ti is over. Stand up."
"Ugh..." I groaned as I pushed myself up.
As I stood there, reality finally settled in. Not just for , but probably for all my classmates who had been dragged into this world alongside . This wasn’t so temporary detour. This wasn’t an ending.
It was a beginning.
The beginning of a saga I never could have imagined being part of. A story filled with danger, loss, and battles we never asked for. A journey where lives would be lost, yet we would still keep fighting.
All for one reason.
To go back ho.
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