Where the Dream Began

Nijika added silently.

Yamada Ryo sneezed at just the right moment.

Goto Hitori suddenly felt an itch in her nose and throat, too.

Who would've thought Bai Qiu-kun had brought this person along!

But what could she say?

In the end, Bai Qiu apologized to Yoruna.

Bai Qiu promised to treat her to as much matcha parfait as she wanted next time.

Yoruna accepted happily.

The Place Where the Dream Began

On the pedestrian bridge behind Tsukinomori Girls' Academy.

High-rises stood all around, and countless lights illuminated the city.

Toyokawa Shoko hung her head, gazing down at the cars driving along the road beneath the bridge, one after another without a moment's pause.

When people stood somewhere high up, they couldn't help wondering what would happen if they accidentally fell.

Would they... die?

If they were lucky enough to survive, they'd most likely end up disabled.

At that moment, Toyokawa Shoko couldn't help having the same thought as she stood on the pedestrian bridge.

But she had no intention of ending her life.

At least, that was what she believed.

Actually... why had she come here?!

Toyokawa Shoko clenched her fists and couldn't help asking herself.

There was a very good chance she'd run into one of the people she least wanted to see right now: Takamatsu Tomo.

Takamatsu Tomo lived in the apartment building right beside the bridge.

But... she'd already run into Tomo at school today.

Toyokawa Shoko had always known that she and Takamatsu Tomo attended the same school.

On the first day of school, she'd gone through the entire list of new students.

She'd done it to make sure there was no one at the school whom she knew, or who knew her.

Was that really necessary?

Toyokawa Shoko couldn't help mocking herself.

Aside from Crychic, all her connections were at Tsukinomori Girls' Academy.

Apart from Toyokawa Shoko, who else from Tsukinomori would flee to an ordinary school like a stray dog?

And yet, her luck really was terrible.

She'd actually spotted two familiar names on the list.

One of them was Takamatsu Tomo.

Tomo was also the person Shoko felt she'd wronged the most.

Fortunately, Takamatsu Tomo was in Class 3, while she was in Class 8, on a higher floor.

From the start of the school year until this afternoon, the two of them hadn't run into each other.

But when school let out today,

Toyokawa Shoko had left as usual and encountered Takamatsu Tomo at the stairwell landing.

She knew it was only a matter of time before they crossed paths.

Still, she'd prayed it would happen as late as possible.

When Takamatsu Tomo saw her, she seemed surprised and glad.

But there was also fear and hesitation in her eyes.

Toyokawa Shoko couldn't help recalling that moment. Tomo had looked as if she wanted to say something to her.

But under Shoko's utterly cold gaze,

Takamatsu Tomo had backed down.

Like a penguin that had come face-to-face with its natural enemy.

Yet when Tomo retreated, Toyokawa Shoko had secretly breathed a sigh of relief. How sneaky of her.

After school, she'd gone to her part-time job as usual.

About half an hour ago, she'd returned to that cramped, shabby home.

Even before she opened the old front door, the stench of alcohol had turned her stomach.

Inside, empty bottles were scattered across the wooden floor.

It was almost laughable...

Looking at the bottles on the floor, Toyokawa Shoko's first thought had been:

Once she cleaned them up, she could sell them as scrap for a little bit of money.

Some of the bottles still had alcohol dripping from them.

Toyokawa Shoko forced down her nausea and did her best to clean everything up.

Even now, remembering it made her lovely brows knit together.

Back in her room, she'd planned to put away the wages she'd earned that day along with her previous savings.

But she found the zipper on the wallet she kept hidden in the cabinet had been pulled open.

Of course, the wallet was empty.

It held the little savings she'd painstakingly scraped together by working long hours, leaving early and coming home late every day.

She didn't need to ask... Toyokawa Shoko knew exactly what had happened.

Her degenerate, self-destructive bastard of a father had snuck in and taken it.

Toyokawa Shoko no longer had the slightest desire to speak to that man.

She could only blame herself over and over. She'd known perfectly well what kind of person he was.

So why... why had she left her savings at home?

She really was... really...

Clutching the few bills she had left,

Toyokawa Shoko ran out.

She didn't know what she was feeling.

She'd just kept walking... and ended up here.

This was where she'd first met Takamatsu Tomo. Back then, she'd been a carefree young lady.

What had Tomo been doing here at the time?

Toyokawa Shoko wondered, unconsciously reaching a slender arm toward the sky.

The scene from back then surfaced in her mind.

But this time, there were no cherry blossoms.

Even the leaves on the trees around her had turned yellow, and everything was tinged with sadness.

Toyokawa Shoko suddenly realized that, at some point,

she'd ended up standing on the lowest bar of the railing, just like Tomo had back then.

It was a dangerous thing to do.

Cars sped along beneath the bridge.

That was it.

That was why she'd mistakenly thought Takamatsu Tomo wanted to end her life.

So she'd rushed over to save her, shoved Tomo, and sent them both tumbling to the ground.

Toyokawa Shoko stared absently at the cars below, but there was no fear in her eyes.

That was right. She wasn't even afraid of dying anymore. What else did she have to fear?

The weak version of me from the past is already dead.

So what if the money was gone?

Toyokawa Shoko's lips moved.

She wanted to shout those words.

I want to be human!

But no matter what, she couldn't make a sound.

Toyokawa Shoko smiled. Maybe...

She wasn't worthy of saying that anymore.

Just as Toyokawa Shoko stood there, lost in a daze,

a sudden sensation of falling swept over her.

The world seemed to spin with her.

With a thud,

Toyokawa Shoko hit the ground hard.

Pain shot through her entire body, racing along her nerves.

Her arms, ankles, back...

The pain brought tears to the corners of Toyokawa Shoko's eyes.

Then, with difficulty, she raised her head to look at the person who had shoved her down.

There was something familiar about him. She felt like she'd seen him somewhere before.

Why am I crying?

She hadn't cried even once since then.

She'd told herself that the weak version of her from the past was already dead.

So why couldn't she stop the tears from falling now?

"Don't!"

"Sorry I pushed you down."

"But you can't try to end your life!"

Urgency, concern, gentleness, apology...

Concern showed on the handsome face before her.

His voice was filled with all kinds of emotion, too.

Words of care kept reaching Toyokawa Shoko's ears.

But Toyokawa Shoko didn't respond.

Instead, she suddenly pressed a hand to her chest.

Now her chest was aching faintly, too.