My bound chest was painfully tight. A chilly breeze swept through the city and swayed my long, twin-tailed hairstyle that spilled down to my chest. A brown curtain of hair blocked off the left side of my vision.

I pushed up my glasses to adjust my mindset and shoved my hands into my hoodie. I found myself standing on the sidewalk of a crowded street. Several students in Saint Freya uniforms walked past me on their way to school.

I forced down the small part of me that was uneasy in my new body and took a deep breath of cool air. My chest was really bound too tight.

A familiar feeling of panic welled up within my heart. I knew from experience that if I gave myself a chance to think, then my mind would go pure white like it did whenever I interviewed for a job.

If I just waited for an opportunity to fall into my lap, then nothing would ever change. Months of fruitless job searching taught me that I had to reach out if I wanted anything to change.

I put on a bright smile and armored myself with cheerfulness. Mustering up my courage, I approached the first girl that entered my line of sight.

“Yaho~ Are you also a new student at Saint Freya?”

“Y-Yaho..?”

My smile stiffened and I broke out in nervous sweat. C-Could it be ‘Yaho’ was not a popular greeting? I messed up. I pushed on anyway.

“I am Alice Phantasmagloria. What is your name?”

The girl with shoulder length, curly ice blue colored hair and dark blue eyes put a hand over her chest and smiled.

“I am Colette Springwood. Nice to meet you.”

My heart skipped a beat at Colette’s soft smile. I couldn’t remember the last time a girl directed that kind of warmth at me.

“Regarding your earlier question, all first years at Saint Freya wear a red ribbon. The second years are pink, the third years are blue, and the fourth years are black.”

My heart beat violently in my chest and heat rushed to my face. Colette’s gentle voice slipped past the walls surrounding my heart and comforted my uneasiness and fears hidden deep within me. I couldn’t look Colette in the eye and averted my gaze elsewhere.

“What is wrong, Alice? Your face is very red.”

“Nothing!”

Crap. Crap. Crap. I had heard of these symptoms before. N-No, that was impossible. I was not such an easy heroine that I would develop a crush on somebody just because they smiled at me! I changed the topic with the first thing that came to mind.

“Aren’t you cold wearing so little?”

Saint Freya’s uniform consisted of a black blazer, a white button up blouse, and a pink plaid skirt. Colette was not wearing the blazer and the white button up blouse was sleeveless with an open back.

Skimpy, exposed clothing was normal in video games, but it was out of place in the real world. My eyes had trouble finding a place to rest as several students exposed far more skin than what I was comfortable with.

“On the contrary, aren’t you hot in that outfit?”

“Ahaha…”

I laughed sheepishly as I glanced down at myself. I stood out ridiculously among all the other students. In addition to the standard uniform, I also wore a red hoodie and the school’s track pants below my skirt. I didn’t feel comfortable wearing a skirt and the thought of the whole world catching a panty shot of me made me want to die. I was a man after all.

“I get cold very easily.”

“I see…”

Colette pondered over my lame excuse. A lightbulb went off in her head and she took action. A soft, warm sensation suddenly enveloped my cold hands.

“Hya!”

A girlish scream spilled from my mouth in surprise. I was so ashamed of that scream that I wanted to cover my face with my hands, but my hands were trapped in Colette’s grip.

“My body is always hot, so this way we both benefit. Don’t you agree?”

“O-O-Of course!”

My ability to speak broke down as my brain overheated. I was holding hands with a girl. Didn’t that mean we were already dating!?

We walked to Saint Freya while chatting about our first day of classes. A new voice called out and interrupted our discussion as we got to the entrance of the school.

“Letty, Letty! Lily missed you!”

A pair of small, dainty hands sprouted behind Colette and attacked her chest. The warmth gripping my hands disappeared as Colette let go to protect herself. My heart ached from a strange sense of loss.

“Mouuu. Lily, cut it out.”

“But, but, I haven’t seen you in months. Lily wants to check how much you have grown.”

I took a few steps back and wearily eyed this newcomer. Who did she think she was, coming between me and my lover!? N-No, wait… C-Could it be that holding hands did not have any special meaning when it was between girls?

Lily had emerald green eyes and her short teal hair was in a ponytail. She wore a black undershirt beneath her blouse. The top two buttons were unbuttoned and she had done away with her ribbon and blazer. In addition, her school skirt was even shorter than normal. Every little movement threatened to reveal the underwear hidden beneath her skirt.

This was bad. My loner class skills instantly picked up that we were the center of attention. I even saw a player watching us from the crowd of students. Before I could extract myself from this situation, Lily turned to me.

“I am Liliana Maxwell. Lily’s friends call her Lily.”

…Maxwell? My mind blanked at that familiar last name. I came to my senses and introduced myself.

“Alice Phantasmagloria. Nice to meet you, Lily.”

Lily’s eyes gained a wicked glint. Even though Lily had a small, petite body, it was like I was a frightened rabbit in front of a big bad wolf. Shivers of dread raced down my spine. Everything would be okay. I was playing the role of a cool, cheerful–

“Take this! Lily Friendship Attack!”

“Nooo!”

Lily pounced. I leaped out of the reach of her ravenous hands. The small wolf shot me an aggrieved, teary eyed look at my betrayal.

“Why did you dodge Lily’s friendship attack? Do you not want to be friends with Lily?”

“I-I…”

My heart ached from guilt. I hadn’t meant to deny our budding friendship or hurt Lily’s feelings. If I was truly the bright, cheerful character I pretended to be, then I could say something to fix this. Unfortunately, coming to another world didn’t suddenly level up my social skills.

“Lily won’t let you escape her clutches. Take this! Continuous Friendship Attack Stream!”

“Noooo!”

I didn’t have the presence of mind to worry about the surrounding gazes under Lily’s unrelenting pursuit. Happy giggles chased me and it took everything I had to escape from Lily’s grasp. I darted into a strange gap in the crowd of students, but it wasn’t as empty as I thought. I ran into another girl and fell on my butt.

“Oof.”

“Are you okay?”

A helping hand reached out to me. My eyes followed the girl’s hand up to her face and I gulped despite myself. It was like flowers bloomed in the background and the sun sparkled off her long, bright pink hair.

“S-Sorry.”

I took the slender hand and stood up.

“I’m happy that you aren’t hurt.”

The girl smiled brightly like a blooming flower. It was like I was getting knocked out just by seeing that smile. This girl was dangerous. She was by far the most beautiful person I had ever seen. She had long, flowing pink hair and bright blue eyes. I would believe it if she told me that she was the princess of some country.

“Kyaa! It is Rosabella Dawnkeeper!”

“I saw her in Lapis' fashion magazine. Even though she is only an ordinary person, not even Magical Girls or Valkyries can compete with her popularity and style!”

A bunch of girls cried out in excitement about the girl in front of me. As Rosabella turned to leave, I couldn’t help but cry out.

“Ummm!”

“Yes?”

Her face was so dazzling that it was unfair. My heart pounded in my chest as I voiced my one in a lifetime request.

“My name is Alice Phantasmagloria. Will you be my friend?”

Ahhh, I lamented, she must think I am a weirdo. Who asks to be friends with someone they just met at this age?

Surprise flashed across Rosabella’s face. An even brighter smile settled on her face.

“Of course. It would be my pleasure. Thank you for talking to me, Alice.”

Thump. Thump. Thump. It happened again. B-But, it couldn’t be helped. The number of times I had talked to a girl since high school could be counted on one hand. My only consolation was that I wasn’t the only one with a crush on Rosabella Dawnkeeper if my surroundings were any indication.

My morning flashed by in a daze. Colette and Lily sat next to me during the entrance ceremony and we were all in the same class along with Rosabella. I drew the lucky seat next to Rosabella, which meant my heart did not settle down once while in class.

— ❀❁✿ —

My next heart pounding adventure came during lunch.

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

“Go ahead. We are friends!”

Rosabella sat with Colette, Lily, and I during lunch. Saint Freya Academy provided free lunches for its students in the cafeteria. I dreaded trying out another world’s cuisine, but it was surprisingly similar to what I ate at home. Our easy banter fell silent once Rosabella joined us.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“No worries. Let me introduce you to everyone.”

Colette and Lily easily accepted Rosabella into the group and our conversation quickly resumed. Rosabella was naturally a good speaker and could carry a conversation. Lily interjected bright, silly comments and Colette brought up a new topic whenever the current one grew stale. It took everything I had to follow the conversation and contribute something meaningful. This was exhausting for a shadowy, loner character like me.

“Since today is only a half day, Lily says we should do karaoke after lunch.”

Rosabella clapped her hands together with a brilliant smile.

“I agree.”

“Sounds fun!”

Everyone turned towards me. There was no way I could refuse in this kind of atmosphere.

“...Okay.”

I had no choice but to shelve my plans to investigate this new world. Well, hanging out with my new friends didn’t sound like a bad way to spend the rest of my day.

As I watched Rosabella drink her green tea, it grew impossible to ignore the pressure building in my body. Lily and Collete both seemed just fine, but I was already at my breaking point.

“Sorry. I need to go to the toilet. Be right back.”

I waved my friends goodbye and darted off to the toilet. I was not quite jogging as I needed to follow the school rules, but I definitely toed the line. There was only a girls restroom at Saint Freya Academy.

I paused in front of my destination at a loss. I couldn’t just use the girls bathrooms, could I? My bladder screamed in protest. In the end, I had no choice. Despite my reservations, there was no way I would find another toilet to use in time.

I apologized to everyone and entered the girls restroom. The sight of something from the corner of my eyes froze me in my tracks. I had done my best to put it out of my mind, but now the very thing I ignored all day was shoved right in front of my face. My stomach twisted and lunch threatened to make its way back up my throat.

My chest was so tight that I was suffocating. A protest squeezed its way out of my throat.

“T-This isn’t me…”

Wide shoulders, messy hair, and an unshaved beard… there was no sign of “me” in the mirror. Alfonse Lockengard looked nothing like the girl in the mirror. A wave of alienation filled me as I watched the girl copy my every move.

“Ugh..!”

I rushed into the toilet and opened up the Hexennacht app on my smartphone. Another wave of nausea flowed through me and my grip on my smartphone tightened. I followed the logout procedure I had learned from other players and located the logout button.

“Good night, world.”

I pressed the logout button.