Perhaps I would never be able to return to the City of Freedom.
After spending my first week in this strange world, I suddenly had that thought.
I suddenly realized that what I cared about wasn't failing to become the Saint Maiden, nor that I couldn't step onto the Saint Maiden's stage as a boy.
What truly bothered me was that I couldn't show my real face.
But things were different here. Everyone was different. Leader J, Mr. Sunny, Mr. Kaz... and so on. In their eyes, I had only ever been Daphne.
This was a world I would wake from laughing even in my dreams.
I woke up smiling. It was not yet light outside, and the air was slightly cool... but there was already a glimmer of Dawnlight.
The first time I woke up in the middle of the night, I felt such peace and contentment. So this was how easy it was to live without caring about other people's gazes.
Remia... Remia, did I want to find her, or did I not want to find her?
She was my City of Freedom.
Leader J was truly a charismatic person. The way Leader J looked at people was different from everyone else's... Everyone seemed to look forward, intentionally or otherwise, to meeting his gaze.
But I always felt that Leader J was actually unwilling to truly make contact with anyone.
When the performance ended, the audience dispersed, and you stood alone gazing at the moon, Leader J, were you thinking of someone?
Who was the person you constantly worried about? What were those mysterious past events that lingered behind you?
I would have plenty of time to understand these things, right?
I was beginning to adapt. I even felt that the me here was the real me,