I’m Fujioka Takao, and I’m your ordinary high school student. My grades are good, although I’m not the best student in my class. I study a lot every day so I can make them even better and my parents can be proud of me. 

My favorite subject would be... hmm, home economics, I guess? Surprising, isn’t it? Girls tend to like this subject more than guys, but I’m a guy. I can’t really help it; I just find cooking fun. I guess I’m a little bit odd sometimes, too. 

I’m not bad at math either. I don’t particularly like it, but it doesn’t cause me much trouble, as opposed to most people. 

I am good at sports as well. My favorite would be... basketball, probably. I even thought about joining the basketball club, but I picked the literature club in the end—I have always loved books. I don’t really have any particular favorite genre—as long as the story is good, I can enjoy it. I read foreign books, very old books, and light novels as well. 

Naturally, I have a lot of friends, both in the class and in the club. They always help me when I’m in trouble and the other way around. We often hang out after school, too. They sometimes do silly things, and I don’t really like it. They say that I’m too serious, but I can’t tell if it’s really the case... 

Before my friends, there is a person that’s more precious to me than anyone else—it's my girlfriend. Other people often envy me that I’m that close to her, since she’s basically the most popular girl in the entire school, and there is a reason for that. 

Her name is Nakamura Lumiya. Her eyes are blue, her hair long and distinctively blonde. She’s exceptionally tall—she has basically outgrown most guys, and the difference of height even between us is almost nonexistent. 

She could easily be called a perfect girl—she is incredibly pretty, her grades are easily the best in the entire school, she is kind to everyone who approaches her, but she can defend herself if the need arises. 

The main reason for her popularity is obvious—she’s the student council president. Due to that, there is no person that hasn’t heard of her, and everyone who as much as catches a glimpse of her, definitely appreciates her qualities. 

How the hell did I manage to make her my girlfriend? I’ve never been even slightly perfect, and I’ve never had anything unique to me, so how did we even meet each other? 

The answer is easy—when I met her, she was nothing like that. Her exceptional beauty was covered by her cluttered appearance, and she was incredibly shy—so much that she couldn’t properly talk even to a teacher. Moreover, she had a strange quirk of acting as if she was an alien. It was really difficult to get closer to her because of that, but I did it.  

With my help, she managed to turn into a completely different person like she’s now. I’m the only person that knows about her past, and she’s really embarrassed about that now. The fact that I experienced her change from beginning to end made us really close to each other, so I can easily be sure of that I’ll spend the rest of my life with her. 

There are so many incredible people surrounding me—it’s just as if the world has entirely changed ever since I entered high school, but it’s not like that. It’s only me that’s changed.

•

I didn’t like it. 

There was something wrong with that dream. No, there were too many things wrong with that dream.  

Dreams could be an embodiment of one’s deepest desires, but this surely wasn’t the case for that one. Perhaps it was an allusion to a movie I’d watched or a book I’d recently read? 

In that dream, I was a normal high school student. Nothing wrong with that one. Perhaps I was a little bit above average... I didn’t really like admitting that, but I did score better than average on the latest exam. Home economics weren’t my favorite subject, but I didn’t dislike it. In general, I didn’t particularly dislike school, but I didn’t like it either. 

About sports... I was pretty much horrible at that. I didn’t care how good I was compared to others, but it would be nice if I was a little bit better. For example, I had to run after or from something sometimes, and I always ended up panting. I didn’t have the resolve to change that, though. 

That part wasn’t actually that relevant. What surprised me the most was her role in that dream. Something in my mind went ahead without the slightest bit of embarrassment and made her my girlfriend. Sure, it was a natural thought after someone saw a girl and a boy in the same age, alone together... but, it was my own mind that thought of that. 

My conscious just refused to comment on that. Even though I was the only person that could possibly know of that thought, it still wanted to hide it as deep as possible so it wouldn’t accidentally leak out in some way. 

“...!” 

I pressed a hand on my head and closed my eyes to help forget about that. I had just awoken, so I was still lying on the bed. I didn’t really feel like standing up, because even if I did so, what would I do then? 

I didn’t have to go to school today, I didn’t have to meet with anyone today, I didn’t have to prepare dinner today, I didn’t have to clean my room today, I didn’t have to study today, I didn’t have to watch anything today, I didn’t have to do anything today. I could just keep lying for the entire day and fall asleep again before I had properly woken up. 

Yet, I refused to do that. There was an urge inside me that didn’t want to waste that summer day, even though there were still more than thirty of them in store. 

Before proceeding to stand up, I stretched my arms and legs and let out a silent yawn. In the uncomfortably warm room, I heard nothing. It seemed that everyone was out. 

With a hand, I reached for the phone that was lying on the desk, and turned the screen on only to learn that it was currently 9 am. It wasn’t too late, especially that I had essentially nothing to do today. 

Unless... 

There was only one thought in my mind. Lately, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t erase her name from my mind. I couldn’t help but want to see her face again as soon as possible. What caused it to be like that? It was a strange feeling—both satisfying and intimidating. It’d been like that for a longer time, but it had become at least ten times stronger a few days ago, when all of that happened. It caused me to think of her in a completely different way, but I still wasn’t sure what way in particular it was. 

I thought, perhaps I would learn more about it if I met her? I already had an idea what I could do today. I took my phone again and sent her a short message. 

“Lumiya-san, if you don’t mind, should we go out somewhere today?” 

I didn’t give my mind time to start overthinking each word I used as I promptly pressed the Send button. 

At that moment, I realized that I was grinning. Why? Was I looking forward to it that much? There was something wrong with me lately... 

I stared at the bright screen of the phone, impatiently awaiting the “Seen” indicator and soon the highly anticipated response appearing. I kept waiting for a dozen seconds or so without thinking, but at some point, I started worrying. 

A few minutes had passed, and I still hadn’t received the response. I didn’t even realize it when I spent a few minutes staring at the phone without moving even slightly. It was 9 am, but perhaps she hadn’t woken up yet, or she was doing something and didn’t have access to her phone now... Either way, it seemed that it would be better if I went to do something else and returned later, hopefully with the response already waiting for me. 

With that, I stood up from the bed completely and left the room. 

•

I had eaten my breakfast and changed, and I returned to my room. Some time had passed and I hadn’t checked the phone since I left, so I was somewhat excited before turning the screen on. I reached for the phone on my desk, and closed my eyes before looking at it out of anticipation. 

“...” 

It was there—a response from her. In fact, she had sent it two minutes ago, so if I remained waiting for all this time, I would have lost a lot of time like an idiot. 

“Okay. Where?” 

It was short, yet meaningful. In fact, I was surprised by that question, even though it was obvious. That’s right... where should we actually go? 

Unwittingly, I sat down on the bed and stared at the floor as I propped my chin with my arm, which was resting on my knee and started thinking. 

First time, it was a bookstore. Second time, it was a concert. There were so many places and things we could try out together, even on a short notice like that, but that in fact caused me even more trouble. 

There still were some places I would be too embarrassed to go. For instance, the beach. Honestly, I would love to go there, but I didn’t feel like we were close enough to do that together. After all, I would see her in a swimsuit... she surely would be too humiliated to show it to me at this point. 

Cinema? It was a good idea, but on the other hand, somewhat boring. I didn’t know of any movie I would be interested in seeing right now, so we would have to choose something random. Moreover, we wouldn’t even be able to talk the entire time, and it was enough for me to reject this option. 

Shopping mall? I didn’t really like shopping, and she didn’t seem to be that type as well... so it wasn’t the best option. 

Restaurant? She had told me once that she liked food... hadn’t she? Either way, I hadn’t been to a restaurant for ages, so I would like to try it out again if possible. Eating out was one of those things that made me feel like I was living my life to the fullest... not sure why, but that seemed like a good option, so I went with that. 

“Why not a restaurant? I know some good nearby.” 

“Fufu... you want to show me human food from your sides? Very well, I shall accept your offer.” 

“Is in front of the station at 3 pm okay?” 

“Affirmative.” 

And so, she went back to her peculiar manner of speech. Before I knew it, we were about to meet again. Honestly, I was looking forward to it with all my heart, so much that I began to feel slightly weird. 

Until that, I thought about reading some books like usually, and the sole thought that I would meet her later today filled me with excitement that made it far more enjoyable. 

Still, I found myself going back to thinking about that dream every now and then. Particularly, to the part of her being my girlfriend. Before I became conscious of that and went all embarrassed, I had some very odd thoughts concerning that. Like, that idea wasn’t that much otherworldly. And if it actually became real, I wouldn’t hate it. In fact, I would be glad. 

Was all of that really happening to me, or was that merely an illusion?