Before I knew it, summer break came to an end. Once again I found myself in the boring classroom filled with people I had spent three years with, yet I had never talked to most of them.

Obviously, it was kind of a shock. I had to go back to the waking up early routine and all those other tedious things. Moreover, since exams were approaching, I had to seriously start studying for them. Every single day, arduously.

“…”

Walking down the hallway, I sighed as I held a lunchbox in my hand. I passed by people that were completely irrelevant to me, but they had their own lives. Very likely more successful than mine, too.

The only thing I had succeeded in lately… or rather, the only thing that made me feel like living, was that peculiar girl. Over summer break, we had gotten closer to each other, although there still was a pretty big distance between us. Not only was she hardly accessible than usual because of her quirks, I was totally useless if it came to human relationships. What a poor pairing, one could think.

Yet, it somehow worked out.

Summer break might have ended, but summer itself had not. It still was hot outside, and the classrooms were uncomfortable. Was it a good thing? Honestly, I was somewhat tired of this weather already. Fortunately, fall would come really soon, along with things like culture festival. I wonder, how would it look this year?

Either way, what mattered right now was that I was on my way to our usual meeting place, sort of a hideout—the small grove behind the club building. I hadn’t been there for over a month, so I was looking forward to seeing it again.

Soon after I entered the thicket, I saw it. Just as expected, the girl was already waiting there for me.

“Human.”

“I’m here.”

The major reason why I came to that place… or rather, why I started coming to that place, was to be free of all those annoying classmates. The trees surrounding this small area cast shades, which caused the air to be chilly and pleasant, as opposed to other places. Also, it was quiet.

Coming to that place reminded me of our similarities. We both were kind of outcasts, who avoided other people whether forced or by our free will. She was weird—one short look at her was enough to confirm that. After all, nobody wore an eyepatch just because they liked it. Unless it was part of a cosplay or something… which it certainly wasn’t, because she wore usual school uniform.

And I… It wasn’t like I rejected society voluntarily. It wasn’t like I was forcibly rejected either. It was just that before I knew it, I found myself in this situation. And I was too much of a coward to change it. Either way, I didn’t have to worry about it anymore—the way things were now, it satisfied me.

“So, how are you liking school so far?”

Her name was… Himawari, but I called her by the name she had made up herself—Lumiya. Maybe it would annoy her, but I wanted to switch to her real name at some point.

“Pointless and painful. Those filthy humans are everywhere. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but you’ll have to go through that pain for three more years. Possibly even longer.”

“I do realize it. This thought sure is discouraging…” she looked down as she said dispassionately.

Her thinking was wrong in that she assumed school was pointless. It wasn’t really like that, getting a proper education might have been tiring, but in the end, it was worthwhile. Besides, school wasn’t only about learning… or at least it shouldn’t have been.

Unfortunately, she seemed to have this negative mindset. Proving her wrong would most likely be futile, so I didn’t try.

“Fufu. But it’s nothing for me. No human may ever defeat me”, she spoke contemptuously as she pressed her hand against her face.

“I see. That’s good.”

She directed her gaze at the ground as she cutely bit into a sandwich. Come to think of it, it was my first time seeing her eating something else than a rice ball at school. Soon, I did the same with mine.

A pleasant gust of wind embraced my body and made the long, blonde hair of the girl sitting next to me flutter. Her thin, white school uniform swayed slightly too.

“Hey, Lumiya…”

“Human?”

A thought appeared in my mind, so I decided to ask her on the spot since she happened to be with me.

“Have you already chosen which school you’re going to apply to?“ she might have acted strangely and pretended that she wasn’t a part of human society, but I was sure that inside, she was thinking about it seriously.

“…” it took a while before I heard a response from her. “K-kuku, of course I have prepared plans accordingly. You should know that I cannot reveal them to you…”

“I see. I don’t need to know which one in particular you chose.”

I wasn’t going to let her choice affect mine. My education was more important than that… although I would be glad if we happened to go to the same high school. Yeah, that certainly would be great. Seeing how good her grades were, it seemed only obvious that she would aim for the best school possible… but I had a hunch that she actually wouldn’t. But I was sure that she knew what she was doing—she often was smarter than it appeared.

“T-that’s right. I’m not going to tell you…”

“I’m okay with it.”

“I’m glad you understand. You have never been an annoyance to me, human.”

I didn’t find her annoying at all, too, even despite her peculiar behavior. Maybe it was weird, but in this case, it was to my advantage. Again, I was really glad that I had met her.

“Thanks.”

And that’s how our first meeting in the new term looked. Unfortunately, we were going to be busier than ever before because of exams, but there still was going to be enough time for us to meet and have fun. At least, I hoped so.

•

Feeling bored in the classroom, my thoughts were scattered all around. At some point, I found myself thinking about something that happened some time ago.

It was a dream I had.

Even though some time had passed, I still could remember it quite in detail. I was standing on the rooftop, where the only person besides me was someone I knew well.

Of course, it was that peculiar girl, whose real name was Himawari, but her made-up personality was named Lumiya, and that’s what I called her.

Thinking back to that dream was embarrassing. Why? It was because of how things turned out there, but the major reason was most likely that I outrightly confessed to her there.

And then, she turned into something strange… terrifying, even. After making fun of me, it did something so horrifying that made me wake up. Of course, it was only a product of my imagination—this hadn’t happened in reality, and it wasn’t the way Lumiya would act if this really happened. It wasn’t even the way I thought she would act.

As a matter of fact, I tended to overthink things, was it before or after I did them. This dream was a heavily exaggerated version of that—a brutal refusal after a confession, which involved her imagined powers.

That dream was kind of a foresight. Not of that her powers would turn out to be real and she would use them to kill me, but of that I would want to do something so bold and unthinkable—confess.

What? Confess? To her?

Yeah, that was pretty much right…

Or at least I thought so, because since I had never experienced anything similar before, I didn’t know how to deal with it. Funny was that it was the case for most people, not only me. And yet people somehow dealt with it, successfully. It meant that I could do it too if I only wanted, right?

Maybe. In fact, it was my only hope.

Now, how did I find myself in this situation?

As it could be expected, I didn’t know myself. It just appeared at some point; I didn’t even know when. Ever since I saw her for the first time, there was something unusual that I felt towards her. And it evolved into the thing I was feeling now.

I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to spend more time with her. I wanted to be someone special to her… although I had already achieved that, since apparently, I was her only friend, and the other way around too.

I asked myself this question: would I like to spend the rest of my life with her?

But there was no way a middle schooler like me could answer it. I had no idea how my life would look after I entered high school. Maybe I would finally find a bunch of new friends, or maybe I would stay a loner like now.

Nevertheless, I had a hunch that, right now, it was my once-in-a-lifetime chance. That I would never find a person I would get along better than with her. I could not afford to lose her, for as long as possible.

We were different from other people. Both our personalities and the relationship between us were unusual. I couldn’t ask anyone for help, because it wasn’t like I even knew anyone who could help me.

Of course, I couldn’t tell her about that. It would be too embarrassing—in fact, it would be for most people. I had to deal with it on my own.

A great challenge stood before me. Was it my first love? Or perhaps I, as a boy, had given in to my instincts, since no matter how unusual her behavior was, at the end of the day, she was a girl?

“…”

No, but… I hadn’t known her long enough to fall in love, had I? Or did it really matter? There was this thing called love at first sight, so four months were easily enough time?

Besides, I didn’t know her real personality. What if the one I liked was not Himawari, but Lumiya, her made-up alien identity? After all, it was only an act—she couldn’t keep it on forever. I assumed that she was incredibly shy to hide her real self behind this pretense, but I might be wrong. What was under that eyepatch? She had never shown it to me.

Or maybe I was just spitting nonsense at this point. I had spent quite some time with her, and I had caught glimpses of her real, timid personality. It wasn’t only because of all that weird act that I liked her. If she decided to stop doing that all of a sudden, I wouldn’t mind.

Or would I? Damn, I didn’t know myself. My thoughts were scattered all around. This situation made me uneasy, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. For some reason, there was something pleasant in it.

What to do now? Was telling her about it a good idea? Or would that be a confession already? But was confession a bad thing? How would she react to that? Weren’t we going to part ways once we graduated?

What if, supposing we became a couple, I changed my mind at some point? It would hurt her for sure, wouldn’t it? But would I ever change my mind? I did not know!!!

Maybe staying silent was the best course of action for now. I still had plenty of time before graduation, which meant a lot of time I had yet to spend with her. Maybe then would my mind become clearer? Or would I regret waiting?

My hands were sweaty, but not because of the air humidity. It was only because of my own worries. I could take a look around the classroom, but I would not ever find her that way. She should be sitting in the classroom behind the wall. I was going to see her today for sure, but I wouldn’t tell her anything about what I was thinking just now. She would be left clueless…

Unless… what if she was thinking about the same thing as me? It wasn’t all that impossible, was it? But there was no way she would tell me. There was no way I would be able to ask her either. Therefore, it was no use considering it. I had to worry only about my own problems—if it happened to coincide with hers, that would only be better for me… and her as well.

Relevant events that fall would bring us were… the sports festival and culture festival, I guess. I never cared about those things much, but unfortunately, I was forced to participate. Not much would change this year since we were in different classes… most likely. But I never knew.

I never felt so troubled before. Even when I spent time with her, I had never been so embarrassed as I was now. It seemed that I had to admit it, whether I wanted or not.

I had fallen in love with that peculiar girl.