Having no friends was never a good thing. No matter how much of a loner one was, without anyone’s support one was particularly prone to damage.

Himawari created a distinct personality so that she could accept her fate. Instead of grieving over being alone all the time, she made herself believe that it was better like that. That she didn’t need to integrate with other people, even that she wasn’t human at all, but a being higher than human.

Of course she never truly believed it. She always realized that she had no special powers, and that she was the biggest loser. She might have wished that Lumiya was real, but she knew her wishes were powerless.

At least, she tried to appear cold, as if she didn’t care about what was happening around her. In a way, she really didn’t. With unkempt appearance, a strand of hair covering her eyepatch which again concealed her left eye, a girl that never opened her mouth sat in the very last row right next to the window. Most of the time, she was just invisible. Nobody cared if she was there or not. She appreciated it since it was way better than being bullied.

Even if she somehow persisted for now, it wouldn’t work in the long run. She was too weak to live on her own. She had to drop her childish act and find a friend, but… the way things were then, her life in middle school was pretty much over.

But…

Over all those misfortunes that happened to her every day, this one time, she was lucky.

All of a sudden, her parents came out with an offer.

“We’ll be moving to Tokyo soon.”

They weren’t home most of the time, and even if they were, they came back late in the evening—that’s why she rarely could count on them. They didn’t even care about that eyepatch thing, all that mattered was that her grades hadn’t dropped. They thought they didn’t have to worry as long as she kept doing her best.

Nevertheless, that offer was something like Himawari’s chance for redemption. She would find herself in a completely new environment, new people that knew nothing about her past, and a new school that she was going to attend only for one year—so even if something went wrong, she would get yet another chance next year.

Himawari had nothing against moving. She was glad, but…

That situation reminded her of something.

She had always been pretty much alone, including elementary school. It was just that it took a long time for her to notice it and nobody cared—her grades were perfect after all. That’s why she had hopes that she would change it in middle school… but she failed.

She had grown to give up really easily, so she had no hopes at all this time. She would still keep that eyepatch on and hope that nobody would harass her.

Of course, she never told anyone about that. On the first day of the third year of middle school, she just wasn’t there anymore. Sometimes she wondered, how much time did it take for them to notice?

•

Her new room was smaller, but it had a somewhat cozy feeling that the previous one didn’t. She had arranged it in a simple way, just as she liked. She never particularly cared about it.

It was time for her to go to school. She was quite nervous, obviously. There was a self-introduction awaiting her, after all. She wasn’t set on making friends, and she doubted that anyone would talk to her, looking at how unkempt her appearance was. There were many reasons to hate her, her perfect grades being one of them.

She was now standing on the hallway, waiting for the teacher to let her in. The class was full of unfamiliar people that she was going to spend an entire year with. There was no way she wouldn’t mess up her self-introduction.

“We’ve got a new transfer student in our class. You may enter.”

“…” she slid the door slowly. With her head cast down, she entered the classroom.

What her new classmates saw was girl with quite a lot of hair. The way she walked made it cover both of her eyes, so the eyepatch she had on her left eye wasn’t really visible.

“Err… you may introduce yourself.”

It was time. She saw the classroom clearly with her right eye. Everyone was staring at her, and somehow nobody uttered a word. Perhaps they were actually interested in her.

“I am… Himawari Lumiya… ah!”

She used a pretty odd way to introduce herself. For some reason, instead of Nakamura Himawari, she said Himawari Lumiya. How come? Not even she knew. Either way, it was wrong. And nobody could know what that Lumiya bit truly meant.

“Ototo. You’re quite nervous, aren’t you? She’s Nakamura Himawari.”

“N-Nice to meet you…” she said in a quiet, shy voice. Of course, she didn’t truly mean it.

“There is a free seat there… well, it’s out of place, but I hope you don’t mind. This classroom is quite cramped, haha.”

“…”

The seat was exactly in the same place as before—in the very last row, right next to the window. She didn’t mind. In fact, it was probably the most comfortable place she could get.

Her expression was apathetic. If someone looked up closely, something black covering her left eye could be noticed. But nobody paid attention to it—she was uninteresting, after all.

“…”

Surprisingly, there were some people that came to talk to her on the next break.

“Hey, what does this Lumiya mean?”

“You look like a mess…”

“…” Himawari didn’t feel like responding. Probably the least favorable comments were kept away from her.

“Hey, what’s that on your left eye?”

“…”

Those faces got too close to her. Her right eye was directed down, trying to avoid them.

“Did something happen to it?”

“no…”

“Then, why is it there?”

“because… I hate humans…” her voice was so small that she doubted anyone could hear it.

“Eh? Is everything okay with you?” the voice began to sound tired and discarding.

“…”

“Ah, you’re one of those weirdos? I never understood it…” with that disappointed voice, the girl left her.

Before she knew it, she was left all alone. And after that, nobody really came to talk to her. More hateful comments appeared once the class learned about her perfect grades.

The place she always went to at lunch breaks was the rooftop. In that school, it was empty. She didn’t talk to herself though because she was worried that someone would record it again.

Moreover, even though the harassment had long stopped, and it didn’t seem like anyone in the new class was going to bully her, she still didn’t get over the habit of shutting herself in the toilet for half an hour or even more. She played games on her phone, and sometimes she got immersed so much that she ended up spending way more time.

And that was pretty much why she came across Takao.

On that day, she was hurriedly walking up the stairs. The reason was very, extremely, surprisingly simple—she had forgotten a small thing in her classroom.

When she saw an unfamiliar person falling straight on her, she instinctively extended her arms and tried to catch him—she did fall on her butt, but she saved that guy successfully. And then, all of a sudden… it was just as if Himawari woke up.

That was why she talked to him. Ambiguously, without expecting much, she asked him for name. And he gave it to her. Then followed the well-known servant bit. In fact, she never knew why she decided to say it.

Embarrassed, she ran away. She wanted to forget about that accident as soon as possible, but she would never have expected that guy would come looking for her.

Thinking that he would be disgusted by it, she always acted in her usual weird way before him. But he accepted it. That was a great surprise to Himawari, but it made her glad. She felt that he actually did care about her, possibly more than anyone ever. That’s why she tried her best to talk to him. So that the relationship wouldn’t die. At some point, she became worried that the eyepatch was all he liked about her. But once she revealed her real name to him, she was certain that she was wrong.

But you already know that story.

•

“That was Himawari’s story. Mine, that is…”

Silence filled the small room. I’d been listening to her words closely while trying to imagine her story in my mind.

It went without saying that the image of the girl sitting before me changed completely in the last few moments.

“Err…”

“It’s quite stupid, right…?” in a dispassionate voice, she commented.

“N-no. It’s not like that at all. I mean…”

I had been right. My actions had never been wrong. She appreciated them all. It was just that she couldn’t properly tell me what was truly on her mind, until now, that is. I was the one who saved her.

And at the same moment, she saved me. We were a perfect match, weren’t we?

“I-I… have always liked you. You were the only person that cared about me. I thought it was impossible…” she stared at the floor with that single eye of hers.

“I think it works the other way around just as well, haha.”

“That’s right…”

“…”

The room became silent again. It wasn’t as awkward as it would have been a few months ago, but still, after hearing that story, I felt quite uneasy when nobody said anything.

“H-human”, she called to me in the usual manner, her voice faltering.

“Y-yes?”

She slowly raised her head. Catching me off guard, her right, blue eye looked straight at my face. It was hard, but I tried to resist it and return her stare.

“Do you want… to see it?” her lips moved slowly as she uttered those words.

“See… what?” I asked, even though I knew perfectly what she was talking about.

“T-the… eye”, she used one of her hands to point at the black eyepatch partially covered by her blonde hair.

“D-do you want to show me…?”

Even though I had known her for a few months, even though she was my only friend, even though she was my girlfriend, I never saw her left eye. Apparently, the moment she finally revealed it to me was now.

“I… I can show you. You should know that those powers were a lie…”

“Y-yeah…”

“So, are you… ready?”

I hesitated before saying firmly:

“Yes.”

 “Okay. Then…”

Her right eye looked straight at me. I stared at her as well. Who would have thought that I would be so excited about someone revealing their eye? She certainly was a peculiar one.

“here I go…”

I watched her closely as she used her trembling hand to grab the eyepatch. She held onto it tightly, visibly hesitating before taking it off. With a slow movement, she removed it from her face.

“…”

Soon, she opened her eyes.

“…”

I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Her left eye. To most people, it wasn’t anything unusual—nobody covered their eyes without a reason, after all. But the person in front of me was Lumiya, or rather, Himawari, and she was anything but normal.

Its color reminded me of a deep sea. It was in harmony with her other, right eye, which I had been seeing all the time.

I was looking at the eye which was concealed under that black eyepatch all the time. I couldn’t believe it. To other people, it would be ridiculous, but to me, it was something important.

Because it was Himawari’s left eye. The girl I loved. Possibly the most important person in my life now.

“Is… is it enough…?” her voice was embarrassed.

“Ah. Y-yeah.”

Before I knew it, she put the eyepatch back on.

“S-sorry. I’m not used to seeing with both eyes…”

“It’s okay.”

Nothing horrible happened to me. No power had been lurking in this eye. Even though it was only obvious, there was a part of me that really believed it. I really was stupid sometimes.

“Human…”

“Yes?”

“Do you want me… to take it off once and for all…?” she looked at the floor as she asked me.

“Huh? Err…”

Honestly, I had no idea. I didn’t want to be the one who decided on that. While I liked her peculiar act, I liked her real personality just as well. It wasn’t like I would stop liking her if she cast that eyepatch away forever.

“I think… that it should be only your decision. I will accept you no matter what.”

“I see. Honestly, as you already know…” her voice suddenly became louder. “I started doing it because I was lonely. But I’m not anymore. So… I think it’s about time I finally stopped.”

“If that’s what you think, then I’m alright with it”, I responded with a smile.

“Fufu. I really like that part of you.”

“Huh?” she made me slightly embarrassed.

“Exactly what you just heard. Fufu.”

“Okay…”

“That’s all for today. I’m really thankful to you, hu—” she stopped midsentence, and continued with a noticeably smaller voice. “T-Takao…”

“…” I didn’t expect it so much that I felt my cheeks flushing. “Y-you remember my name, after all…”

“L-like I said, that’s all for today. It’s time for you to leave, human…”

She went back to calling me Human just like that? She was so embarrassed that she wasn’t showing her face to me anymore.

“Okay, okay.”

“C-can you leave this base on your own? Or is my assistance necessary…” her voice was becoming smaller and smaller; I could just barely hear it.

“Well then, Himawari. See you soon.”

“r-right…”

She was so cute. Standing before the door, I looked at her covert figure. I just couldn’t help, but…

“A-Ah!!!!”

I approached her and embraced her tightly. Her cute voice reached my ears. Feeling her body in my arms was really pleasant. It wasn’t just another person’s warmth, it was Himawari’s warmth.

And I was so glad that I could feel it.

“t-thanks”, I just barely heard her small voice.

After a moment, I let go of her. Once again, I had realized just how lucky I was to have her. At this point, I couldn’t really imagine what would happen if I lost her. So I just hoped that it would never happen.

For now, I could sleep assured. Christmas was right around the corner.