The bell rings and the classes end for today.
The classroom of Class 2 – A of high school is suddenly buzzing with activity.
One by one, happy looking students leave their seats and start picking up their things.

After school, it’s time for high school students to go home or to work in part-time jobs.
However, today is a special day.

Everybody is filled with expectation and laughter, as they try to recruit you for club activities.
Many boys and girls tap your shoulder to ask you to join them, explain to you what they do in their clubs, how fun it’s, etc.
There is even a boy swinging a bat near the door and telling his classmates how he can mark home run with the eyes closed.

Every breath you take, someone calls out to you in a friendly manner, and you politely respond to each one of them, after the offer was rejected they say goodbye and go to ask another person… Until a boy walking out of the classroom catches your eyes.

── I, Amamiya Aria, quietly close my eyes and clasp my hands together.

“…. He is cool today too….”

“I don’t know why you like him so much, you didn’t talk to each other yet, nor even a Hi! “

“Ow!”

As I sighed, a finger slightly hit my forehead, probably from my two friends who seemed to be standing by my desk, I didn’t notice when they approached, and my mouth twitched in disgust.

“Just go and say hi!”

“How can I? It’s only a week after he come to our class. At this point, I’ve finally accepted that this miracle really happened! We really are classmates now! Frankly, I’m still not used to breathing the same air as him. Starting talking to him out of the blue? I can’t!! The shock will kill me! Instant death, no! In front of him…”

“What? Seriously, you make me remember my dog, making a scandal just because I returned home”

“Haha, Aria-chan, she’s really a shy when it comes to Takato-kun, isn’t she?”

Chika-chan, who is tall and has narrowed eyes but is looking at me as if saying why I’m so dumb, and Miyu-chan, a petite girl who picks up her uniform sleeves and gives me a compassionate smile.
Since the first year of kindergarten, we’re good friends, and we always encourage each other, in a somehow mocking way.

“Shhhh! Takato can hear you both! But it’s true… He’s perfect! He can do anything he wants and has an angel’s face… It will take more than a year for me to gather the courage enough to talk to a boy like that!　It’s not easy being a damsel in love, you know?”

Chika-chan’s eyes widen, and with a coy smile, she protests fiercely, hitting the desk with her thumb.
Ouch! Doesn’t your hand hurt after that?

“That isn’t true! Takato-kun is not a monster that can do everything!　You’re talking like he won a gold medal in the Olympics, when the only thing he did was winning in a sport festival’s event against me!”

“Yes, you’re right… It’s going to take me four years.”

“We’re graduating next year!”

With the two blind persons by my side, I gulped down my tears and looked up at the heavens.

Oh, please… I beg you show them how wonderful Takato-kun is…! They are not comprehend that they’re wasting the 100% of happiness of their life!

“Takato-kun… Takato Shinya, Class 2 – A, Attendance number 13. According to visual measurements I took based on the classroom door, he is estimated to be 178 centimeters tall….”

“Oh, man, another screw lost.”

“Chika-san, please don’t say it out aloud… everybody knows but shhh!”

“You don’t understand…. He has always been the top student in his school class, the ace of the soccer club of our class! He has a wonderful smile and a super-fresh prince face that looks great with his silky black hair blowing in the wind…. With the personality of a serious and mature leader. A good young handsome perfect man, who is liked by everyone, at the level of thinking “Does he come from an Otome game?!”. Every week, a new girl confess to him! Yes, if we were to compare him to a ramen…. He’s the special sale on Thursday, that one with all the extra portions of pork!”

“Are you complimenting him… or making fun of him?”

“Aria, I think you’re just being silly.”

“But most of all, it’s his kindness! … Yes, that day in the winter of my third year of junior high school when I first met Takato-kun–“

“Not again! Miyu do something! Or we’re going to spend the next 60 minutes remembering an event that lasted only 2!”

“Aria-chan, you wanted to go to the new pancake shop in front of the station, didn’t you?　I got a coupon but it expires today! Do you want to go with us?”

Pancakes?
Looking at the screen of the smartphone that Miyu-chan presented at zero distance of my eyes, I suddenly returned to myself…
Huff – puff Pancakes!
Perfect food prepared by God himself!

“Geeee! I can’t go today… oh, but I want to go!! But there’s something I want to do also today….”

While I was biting my lips in desperation, Chika-chan, who has tilted her head questioningly, suddenly turns her gaze out the window towards the playground and smirks mischievously.

“… Ah, the soccer club, has a practice match today? Are you going to cheer him on… in a healthy way, right?”

“Ugh…”

That is what I want but I didn’t have the courage to say “good luck” or “Do your best” out loud, each time I went there, many girls were already cheering him on and I became like the grass in the background.

Nevertheless, let’s do it! I stood up and left my desk without hesitation, but before that!
Holding their hands, I bow my head.

“Sorry, don’t worry about it, just go and eat. Let me know how was it. Bye, see you tomorrow!”

“Hm?”

“Yes, let’s go together next time!”

I smiled back at them as they waved at me and started running towards the school’s soccer grounds without looking back.

　* * * *

“….”

But for some reason, Takato-kun was not there.

The people of the club discussed his absence with troubled faces, and the girls who had gathered to cheer him on looked very disappointed.

“Maybe he’s not ready yet”
“I wonder if he went back home?”

That is what I hear them say from the distance, while many question marks appear over my head.

??
No, something is not right.

The serious Takato-kun… for him to miss club activities without contacting me! There must be something going on here!

So, without a second thought, I decided to look for him, and immediately ran back to the school building.

Standing at the entrance, which is also sparsely popular, I opened the door of the locker with his name written on it.
A single glance, just a single glance… invasion of privacy, no, no! I’ll get down on my knees later to beg for his forgiveness.

… Takato-kun shoes-box contains the shoes he used when coming to school this morning, not the school indoor shoes.
Which mean, he’s still on the school building.

What if he’s not feeling well and collapses somewhere…?　
Look everywhere, I’ve to find him!
In the infirmary, no.
In the staff room, no.

All over the school building at full speed…. No.

I can’t find him anywhere!

After going up and down the stairs many times, I couldn’t breathe, so I stopped while wiping the sweat on my forehead.
All the places that people frequently goes… yes, I checked them all, so where can he be? There’s only one place I haven’t looked for yet, but….

“The fourth floor of the West Wing… that old classroom?!”

Some years ago, due to a decrease in the number of students, the school was reorganized and as a result, several classrooms were abandoned.
One of them is that classroom at the far end of the fourth floor.

It seems that now it’s used as a storage room to keep the old desks and chairs, so students never go near it.
Since the lockers are piled up along the corridor side windows, you can’t even look in.

When I reached for the door with half-confidence, wondering if he was in such place, a familiar voice sounded from inside and my back stretched.

Takato-kun!
It’s Takato’s voice, he is safe. What a relief.

But this is the first time I heard the calm and cool Takato-kun sounds so impatient.
My fingers were at millimeters of the door when the weirdest sentence that I heard in my whole life, was pronounced by someone else inside the room.

“Of course, any other person will all die. Only the power of a person that comes from another world will resist this fate. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to make it work. However…”

Hey, I hear that? Someone else’s voice that isn’t Takato-kun… Apparently, they are both inside.
It’s a strange voice that sounds weird… Who is it? A child, an adult, a man or a woman, I can’t tell.

If they are alone together after school in a closed classroom, it should be a love confession, right?
Then what was that?

The mysterious voice said a more extraordinary thing.

“─ ─ If you die in the other world, you will never return to this world again, but…”

What?! I knew it! I should have confessed my love for him before!
No, wait! Is he dying?
Not coming back. Who’s not coming back?

In the midst of my confusion, even more strange words reached my ears, this time it was Takato-kun’s voice.

“… I understand. If it’s something I can do, I’ll fight! Take me with you.”

Soon after, a blinding light leaked out of the classroom.

“…Takato-kun!”

When I came to my senses, I opened the door as if I had been hit by a bullet.
But what I saw was a magic circle floating on the floor of the classroom…what was it?　

“………er…….”

“What is that, CG or VR?”

As I rubbed my eyes, the light emitted by the magic circle became weaker and weaker. Oh, is it trying to disappear?　Where’s my Takato-kun?
No, you won’t get away with him!

Decided, I jumped onto the magic circle.
Nor a word of the previous conversation was understandable but if it goes on like this, I won’t be able to see Takato-kun again.
That is bad! I still have to tell him– what I haven’t told him.

“!”

My body… The light is warm, I feel like I’m melting.
Everything is getting whiter and whiter and I’m less and less conscious.

Mmm, I’m going to die like this, I wonder. What I only hope is that at least Takato-kun is safe.
My eyelids are heavy and I close them

…he is safe…. I hope that.

Then my body completely disappeared from this world.

Translated by Djurasico (dot) home (dot) blog