When I first woke up in this world, I was greeted by a monster, a goblin, to be precise. It felt so surreal. But when it jumped on me, it all struck me as real. I ended up screaming.

I avoided it as much as possible, but when all hope seemed to be lost, a girl appeared.

I… I recognised her.

She had a cool look despite being covered in mud… She had a rock in her hand and threw it at the goblin.

The projectile travelled unbelievably fast, but the goblin didn’t seem to care—Instead, it had a smile on its face when it turned around, and I could see the girl flinch a little when their eyes met.

I know how you feel! It’s like a goblin and another abomination combined! It’s super freaky!

But then I noticed something behind her: there was another freakish monster!

Even the goblin fell on its back and fled, and the last thing I remember was the girl and the monster running towards me.

— :::: —

“Thus, concluding my arrival in this world,” I said.

The reply I got was silence.

Apparently, Noel arrived with his classmates in a field where there were no monsters or anything, and they got taken in by The Empire pretty much the day after.

So, hearing my story probably made them speechless.

However, that Alum guy didn’t show any sign of sympathy or anything at all. Not that I expected him to—as Noel said. This guy is cold. And… as strange as it sounds. I didn’t hate it.

Although he didn’t show that he cared, he still listened to my story without looking away, even for a moment.  

I guess that’s why The Saint likes him.

“That girl… You said she had teal-coloured hair?”

“Huh…?”

I was a little surprised. He didn’t seem that interested, but now he’s the only one asking a question.

“Ye-Yes… teal-coloured and about as tall as me…um… a little shorter maybe?”

“There’s one student like that that we rescued, though. It’s a boy with a rather feminine look.”  

“…..”

A boy…who looks like a girl?

A trap!?

“His name is Aska, and he usually hangs out with a boy named Isak. Does that ring any bells?”  

No way…

then…

“C-Can you tell me more!?” I abruptly cried.

“Isak? The name does ring a bell; don’t tell me… It’s the Ex who cheated on you!?” Noel asked.

His tone was a little harsh despite how calm and friendly he usually was. But…he’s a nice brother. I told him what happened between Isak and me over the phone. He told me to talk things out with Isak, but…we never did.  

“I… I don’t ‘now’ think he cheated on me…I had the wrong idea…” I confessed.

Even though I didn’t know that Aska was a boy, I still knew that the two of them were friends. But that was after we broke up, and them hanging out was something they usually did.

…So he didn’t lie. “Only boys,” huh? I still remember it clearly. When he told me he’d go out, he always said he was with ‘The Boys’ and…I trusted that.

But one day, when I saw him in the city with his friends, Aska was there as well.

I was shocked, considering he told me he was with his boys. But remembering the picture and him ‘lying’ who he was with got me so worked up that I followed them.

At the time, I thought, ‘What am I even doing?’ and ‘Perhaps that’s one of his friend’s girlfriend?’

But seeing how close they were, it didn’t make sense that she would be a friend's girlfriend.

Then… when Aska went somewhere alone, I tried to approach her—well, at the time, I thought he was a she.

Still, I tried to approach Aska, but before I could, some guys walked up to him, trying to chat him up, and that’s when Isak came to the rescue.

“This again?” Isak angrily said to the strangers.  

Aska then latched himself onto Isak, stuck out his tongue, and said, “See, I did come with someone.”  

After that, his other friends came up to them and laughed while saying, “What a reliable boyfriend you are~ Isak,” in a teasing manner.

“Oh, shut up!” Isak retorted.

After that, I ran away and… sent him a message.

—Me | We’re breaking up. |

As I was clearing up the misunderstanding my brother had—me included. I now…feel…

So stupid for not talking to him about it!

“…Freja, what did I tell you about jumping to conclusions…?” Noel asked.

“I couldn’t help it! Like…having seen and heard all of that, you wouldn’t think otherwise!?”

“…..”

Noel didn’t respond as he awkwardly glanced at Alum.

“I knew he was a boy,” he said.

“Al…that doesn’t help the situation!” Noel retorted.

And in this situation, Noel’s girlfriend stood up and approached me. She was rather awkward, but… to be honest, I’m a little scared. She opened her arms and looked a little embarrassed.

“Umm…if you want… Perhaps a hug would help?” Chely shyly asked.

Contrasting her scary and cold first impression. She seemed very awkward and shy.

—which I did not expect.

But… It was a very sweet gesture… I honestly feel bad for myself, not in the sense that I pity myself or anything.

But…why was I so dumb?

I didn’t even have bad grades…

Ahhh! I don’t know anymore!

I jumped into Chely’s open embrace—unexpectedly…or not, I hit my head pretty hard when I dove into her chest.

“S-Sorry! I should’ve warned you I wore armour underneath…!”

Chely became flustered and used some sort of magic.

But…

“AHHHH! IT HURTS!”  

“Aaawwaawaw! So-Soooooory! You were a Lich, so healing magic… I’m sorry!”

…could she be a clutz as well…?

“Um… No need to apologise about the armour. I sort of already knew… and about the healing. I appreciate the gesture. It didn’t hurt that much…”

“But…you were screaming!”

“…..”

“A-Anyways, look, I’m healing already!” I declared as I felt better.

“Ehehe. I apologise about sis, Freja. She is such a worrywart. And when she gets flustered, she tends to forget a lot of stuff. In this case, she forgot that Liches heal by themselves if there’s sufficient mana,” The Saint said.

“A-Ame!?” Chely cried out loud with teary eyes.

And so, when we finished talking about how I got here and…unexpectedly clearing a misunderstanding on my side.

—I want to see Isak!  

I…I still like him. Even when I was sick and unable to attend the school trip, I got better and got permission to come, albeit a few days later than the others.

However, what I didn’t expect was to end up in another world—die and resurrect…  

“A-Alum!” I called out to my brother's friend.

“Hm? What is it?” he replied.

“Please, I beg of you! Please take me to where Isak is! I want to talk to him, but also… I want to thank Aska for saving me!”  

“…Sure?” he indifferently replied.

But… a little after, he smiled and said, “Be sure to make up, okay?”

A little taken aback by how nice he became, I meekly said, “…O-Okay.”

Maybe…

Maybe he ‘is’ nice.