Lumiya followed me as I entered the restaurant. In fact, it wasn’t my first time there. I’d been there a few times with my family, and even though it’d been a few years since then, I recognized the interior layout quickly. It hadn’t changed much, so I found myself somewhat comfortable. It was also the main reason why I chose this particular restaurant in the first place.

Luckily, the restaurant wasn’t currently crowded, so there were numerous free tables to pick from. I chose one next to the window—I found it remarkably appealing mainly because it was in the very corner of the restaurant, and the surrounding tables happened to be vacant as well.

“Is this one okay?”

“Hmm. So may it be.”

Having quickly asked for her opinion, I proceeded to take a seat at the chosen table. She followed suit soon. Obviously, she didn’t take a seat next to me—that would make us look like we were close to each other, which was rather something both I and she wanted to avoid, so she sat across from me.

“…” I heard a silent sigh of relief escaping her mouth as she settled down.

Before I knew it, I found myself staring directly at her. Despite having entered inside, she hadn’t pulled her hood down, so her blonde hair was still mostly concealed under the black cloth.

Her left eye was, as usual, covered by a black eyepatch, which I hadn’t ever seen her without, whereas the right one had been apathetically staring at the empty table we sat at.

Her face displayed a rather dispirited expression, but there could have been numerous reasons for that. For example, she might have been hungry, or simply nervous before ordering—to be honest, I found myself a little stressed before talking to a waiter for some reason too.

As I directly stared at her face, I couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking of at the moment. Her unavailable expression made it seem as if she was currently exploring another world inside her mind. Her hands were feebly hanging, embraced by the baggy sleeves of her strange black coat and an additional layer of a long black glove.

Looking at her like that, it was clear that she was peculiar. She might have looked like an outstandingly pretty girl if she only had put on normal clothes instead, as any other girl would to an occasion like that.

Not that I disliked her current outfit—it was an important part of her personality, which was one of the things I particularly liked about her.

Regardless, I would be too embarrassed to do anything if she came dressed like a normal girl. It would seem like she was my girlfriend, who she was not… I still kind of wanted to see her in usual clothes, despite the embarrassment. Why did I have thoughts like that…?

I didn’t realize it when I got lost in thought. In consequence, I got startled when she suddenly turned her idle gaze to me. It was already too late now, but I promptly turned my head away so that she wouldn’t notice that I was looking at her, but that actually made it more obvious.

I hadn’t moved, humiliation within me constantly increasing, before she asked me, seemingly unsuspecting:

“Is something the problem?”

“N-no. Sorry.”

I was worried if I had perhaps accidentally made her mad.

“Just so you know, I’m not concerned by other humans’ opinion.”

“I-I’m glad.”

She raised a hand in order to pull at the hood with protruding cat ears seated on her head. Seeing that gesture, I tried to look at her, but the momentary embarrassment was still preventing me from doing so.

“So I won’t take this off. I know you were thinking about it.”

“Ah…”

“Because I can read your mind”, she said in a soft voice, as if it wasn’t anything remarkable.

“Huh? You can? Seriously?” I pretended to be interested in that.

Still, I probably hadn’t heard her mentioning that before. Surprising how many abilities she proclaimed she had. Wasn’t she a bit overpowered?

“Not really”, and she took that back just like that. There was no emotion in her voice suggesting that she found it funny.

I didn’t really know how to respond, but I didn’t have to think about it anymore as we were interrupted by a waiter bringing us two menus.

“Welcome. Please take your time.”

He left as soon as he gave us those two cards. I noticed her gaze abruptly turning to the window, which was on the opposite from where the waiter came from.

“S-so, I wonder what the human realm has to offer in terms of food.”

“Right…”

We both commented with visible awkwardness before we grabbed the cards that were lying on the table.

As expected of a chain family restaurant, there were numerous dishes to pick from in reasonable prices. Apparently, the restaurant was Italy-themed, so on the very first page you could see a big picture of pizza that obviously didn’t look as good in reality, or the famous Mont Blanc as a dessert on the back cover.

“Human”, her voice called out to me suddenly.

“Hmm?” I responded only by slightly raising my chin.

“W-would you like to provide me with recommendations?”

 “Uhh… I don’t know. Just order what you want, you shouldn’t regret it.”

All dishes this restaurant had to offer were well-known, like pizza or pasta. Even an alien should know about them.

After I finished browsing through the menu, she soon followed.

•

“Enjoy your meal…”

In the end, she had settled on a pizza, whereas I had ordered a Hamburg steak. A waitress brought both of them at the same time, so none of us had to worry about starting to eat before the other.

For some reason, neither of us could move. We only stared alternately at each other (of course avoiding the eyes) and the food waiting on the table. It wasn’t anything remarkable to admire, so our stagnation was most likely caused by the embarrassment that came out of nowhere as always.

“Err…”

The restaurant was relatively silent. I could just barely hear other people talking, mainly because there wasn’t much of them besides us here. Likewise, the glass of the window was effectively protecting us from sounds from the outside.

I hadn’t been particularly hungry, but merely looking at the food made me want to dig into it. Well, it was ours, so it was only the proper course of action.

As could be expected, she hadn’t taken the hood off. Similarly, she still had gloves on her both hands. The look on her face could only be described as hesitant.

“Thank you for the food…”

I decided to take action first in order to encourage her to do the same, but just before I managed to pierce through the steak, she stopped me with her voice:

“Wait.”

“Hmm?” I looked up at her and noticed that she extended a hand. Soon I learned that she was taking the glove off. She appeared to have some trouble with it as she alternately pulled at it and shoved the other hand into the sleeve.

“……”

Finally, she managed to remove it. I saw her bare hand for the first time today—which was nowhere as sensational as seeing her face without the mask on—and the glove that was extraordinarily long, so it could have extended even to her shoulder.

“Good.”

“Uhh… thank you for the food”, I repeated under my breath as she finally gave me the permission to eat. That was a bit bizarre.

When I bit into the delicious-looking steak, I couldn’t enjoy it whatsoever. Her presence across from me didn’t allow me to—in fact, it was only my own mind that interpreted it like that.

I couldn’t help but peer at her. As she ate a strangely small bit of the pizza, she didn’t look amused by it at all. No, why would she. It was only a pizza.

Either way, I had to admit it again, unfortunately. I didn’t like the way things were right now. The food we had ordered was lying under our noses, but we were eating at it discreetly as if there was a gun pointed right at us.

The thing is… it wasn’t like that at all. We didn’t have to be concerned by other people. All that mattered for me was the girl sitting across from me. Yet, it was like she was pointing a gun at me, and I was pointing a gun at her.

Because, as much as I tried not to even think about it, that was the truth. We looked exactly like a couple. There was no reason not to call it a date.

It was only obvious. A boy and a girl were sitting at one table. Her outfit might have been odd, but that didn’t change anything. It wouldn’t have looked any different if she were my girlfriend.

And what surprised me the most, was that the one who made that happen was no one other than me. What’s more, I realized it from the beginning. Yet I still found myself in a restaurant together with only her and no one else, staring at her timidly biting at the pizza.

And, frankly, I didn’t hate it.

“Come to think of it, it’s our last summer break in middle school…” the silence exhausting me, I tried to strike up a conversation.

My skin felt hot, and I found it difficult to breathe, even though the restaurant was air-conditioned and almost empty.

“True enough”, the tone of her voice seemed apathetic.

She was either not interested in talking to me or simply too shy. Well, she did bother to go out with me today, so I doubted it was the former. How she seemed often contradicted how she really felt.

That didn’t change the fact that I had trouble dealing with it.

“So…, you won’t be going anywhere, Lumiya-san?”

She had told me that already, so there wasn’t really any point asking her again, but, surprisingly, there was a livelier reaction from her at this. She stopped her hands midair and lifted her head, only to lower it again and respond soon:

“N… no.”

“Oh, I see…”

I didn’t know how to continue, so I just took a bite of the steak, barely feeling its taste.

It was awkward. Too awkward. What could we talk about? Why not talk about the fact that I didn’t know what to talk about, I thought. It seemed like a dumb idea, but it might work.

“Er… so, what are we exactly doing here?” I said, even though I was the one who invited her.

“I am keeping you company because you asked me to, human.”

No new ideas appeared in my mind so far, so I just admitted bluntly:

“Sorry, I’m bored. Do you know what we can talk about?”

Probably surprised by me, she stopped her hands are raised her head to glance at me with that one eye of hers. A few seconds passed before she lowered her head again and opened her mouth in order to utter those words in her usual tone:

“Fufu. I know. Today, I shall tell you the story of mine.”

“Story…?”

“Yes. Listen closely, human, because I won’t say it again.”

“Oh… okay.”

I didn’t know what story she was talking about, so I was a bit curious. As such, I started listening to her words as I slowly continued eating the steak.

“I haven’t told you how I found myself in this world, human. Unfortunately, this remains a mystery even for me. That’s why what you’re going to hear are merely my own speculations, although everything I have experienced so far leads to confirming them.”

“Hmm…”

The figure in a black coat with protruding cat ears raised a hand and pulled at her hoodie as a meaningless gesture.

“That’s right. I come from another world, but I don’t know how it looks. In fact, I had believed that I was human until recently. It was one day that I awakened. I regained a faint glimpse of my previous self, which included my powers.”

I continued listening.

“In general, I was most likely brought to this world, most likely as a form of banishment. My powers and memories had been sealed away, although by an accident that was most likely not anticipated by them, I have regained part of them.”

“Huh…”

“It is very possible that Earth is actually a penal colony left unattended. Therefore, you all may, in fact, come from the same world as me.”

It was just as if she was telling me a conspiracy theory. To be honest, her imagination was impressive. She had really put some thought into that. She continued telling me in a proud tone.

“Kuku, don’t get me wrong, human. I am still better than you, for only I have realized that.”

She took a bite of the pizza before continuing.

“And so, I am here, in the human world it’s impossible to escape from, at least for now.”

“Huh, interesting.”

Honestly, her story was kind of creative, but I had to admit that I wasn’t interested in it. It only left me wondering, what was the real story? What made her put the eyepatch on her left eye and never take it off again? Why did she pretend to be an alien, and where did her disdain for people come from?

“Fufu, I can see through you. You don’t believe that story at all, do you, human?”

With her eye closed, she asked me in a condescending manner.

“No, I do believe it.”

“Then don’t. That’s enough of a proof that you are a mere human, even if my theory is correct.”

I couldn’t convince her. I was technically lying, but I wasn’t sure if this could be called a lie. After all, she was telling me a totally made-up story that she knew was fictional, so by saying that I believed it I meant that I acknowledged it.

“Okay.”

“Now then, this human food is not half bad.”

With the atmosphere between us somewhat lighter, we continued eating the food we had ordered without as much awkwardness and anxiety as before.