Every boy must have imagined being woken up in the morning by a cute childhood sweetheart, right?
At least, back in his previous life, when he was just an ordinary gaming nerd, Greg had certainly imagined scenes like that more than once.
In those hazy, lovely fantasies, it usually went something like this:
The faint white light of dawn filtered gently through sheer curtains, casting dappled light and shadows across the blanket.
With his eyes still reluctant to open fully and his face nestled lazily in a soft pillow, a clear, sweet female voice would reach his ears, tinged with playful annoyance:
"Time-to-get-up! You undefeated champion of lazy pigs! The sun's practically roasting your butt!"
As he gradually came awake, a fresh, pleasant scent unique to the girl would drift into his nose, perhaps a faint hint of soap mixed with sunshine, or the floral, fruity fragrance of shampoo.
Then his vision would clear, revealing a cute girl straddling him, her cheeks slightly puffed and her pretty eyes wide. Though she was urging him to hurry, concern shone plainly on her face, and she would add with feigned haughtiness:
"Hmph! If we weren't childhood friends, I wouldn't have come all this way just to wake you up! Hurry, you're going to be late!"
Fantasies were always lovely, suffused with a filter-like soft glow and a heart-fluttering thrill.
Reality, on the other hand...
"Abuh... abuh-buh...!"
Something cold and hard, with an unmistakably metallic texture, invaded his warm mouth without warning, bringing an almost suffocating sense of danger.
"Mm! Ptoo! Cough, cough-!"
Greg jolted awake, his eyes snapping open as he stared in terror at the source of his discomfort-
A beautiful girl stood quietly in the middle of his rather cramped tent.
Her waist-length blue hair, as deep and tranquil as