Episode 4 – The reality is that if you don’t move, you can’t start.

“…..Ha!?”

I found myself sitting at a table in a coffee shop.
I realized I had been asleep for a while by the fact that there was one coffee in front of me that I didn’t know when it came and that it had completely cooled down.

“It’s a dream………… right…… it’s probably a dream……”

It is a ridiculous and commonplace otherworldly transition.
An RPG-style adventurer’s dream with a setting and development that any adolescent boy would want to see at least once.
There are swords, there is magic, there are extreme conditions where life is in danger, and it is because of these conditions that I was able to come together as friends with a childhood friend who had become distant from me……. A dream that could never happen in reality.
I found my hand was still firmly placed on the magic circle of the book.
I have certainly had the “best dream” I could ever hope for right now.
This book might be real,…… I thought at the moment, but at the same time I couldn’t help but feel an inexplicable emptiness, a sense of loss.

A dream is only a dream …… not reality.
In reality, I am still avoided by Amane, and there is no chance for me to talk to her.

“Is it a start…?”
“Oh? You just woke up, struggling student.”

As I muttered to myself, Suzu nee appeared with a cup of coffee. She seemed to have re-filled the coffee that had gone cold.
I thought I would have to pay extra, but Suzu nee offered me the service, saying, “It’s fine that much~”
At that moment, the event from the dream I had earlier suddenly comes to mind.

“Hey Suzu nee ……, maybe Amane will come here too?”
“………… hmmm? What’s up, what made you think that all of a sudden?”

She seemed to think about my question for a moment, but then she asked me again, blurting it out, but without giving a definite answer.
I can’t say …… why because I just had a really convenient dream for me.
But as I was wondering how to answer, Suzu nee gave me the answer.

“She’s coming …………. Always alone.”

She looks …… heartbroken as she closes one eye and exhales a sigh.
But the attitude of Suzu nee, who normally would have felt nothing, but just blamed me for being miserable, seemed to be telling me something.
That makes me think …… I know it’s a stupid way of thinking, but I still think it’s possible to believe in the dream and work with …… or even as a guideline.

“Always alone….Huh?”

I stood up with renewed determination.
I’ve been given plenty of opportunities ……, it’s up to me to act on Her.

“Suzu nee …… next time we’ll both be here.”

When I said this, Suzu nee made a surprised “Oh?” I said, and Suzu nee’s face turned surprised, but she immediately turned up the corners of her mouth and grinned.

“Okay. Then you’re banned from this place unless you both come, so plan on it.”
“…..Roger~”

＊

“Ah….”
“Uu….”

Early in the morning, the moment I ran out of the house with all kinds of enthusiasm, there stood Amane, who had also just left home, in her school uniform.
But her expression looks as grumpy as usual……. After all, reality is different from a dream.
Before I can say anything, Amane turns her head away with a scowl on her face and her body …… Well, it’s natural for her to turn around because that’s the direction of the school, but she doesn’t respond to me when our eyes meet, a salt treatment I’ve never gotten used to after many times and years of experience, and yesterday I dared Suzu nee to do something about it. It almost shakes my resolve.

[Wouldn’t it be better to do nothing?]

The feeble part of my mind tempts me to give the easy answer.
Rather than do something more and make it worse, she said …….
But as I do so, I suddenly remember the dream I had yesterday.
It was a dream, but it had a strange reality. It was not a story or a landscape, but my own psychology.
In my dreams, I always felt guilty that I had taken advantage of the “inevitable life-or-death situation” to make up with Amane.
I found myself wondering what I was saying in a situation where there was nothing but bad luck, where demons abound and it was life or death, but still, when I thought only about Amane, it seemed like a ‘really convenient situation for relationship restoration’.
Not wanting to take the chance of a coincidence,…… I exercised such selfish stubbornness and said only one word to her as she had already turned away and started to walk away.

“G-Good morning…”
“….”

The moment I said that, her steps suddenly stopped.
Just one word, a common morning greeting that anyone can do. …… How many years have I spent just saying this one word?
From that day on, after the sudden estrangement and rejection, I was afraid of being hated and rejected any more, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
This one word might lead to more rejection …… and I have that fear, of course, but I can’t stand …… not making the trigger from me.
However, Amane, who has stopped walking, does not look at me, but just stands still. I can’t see her face, so I can’t read her emotions.
The sight of her gradually grew in fear. …… Was it still better to do nothing?
I knew it was a bad idea. …… When I think of that, I naturally turn my head down.

“….Good morning”
“….Eh!?”

It was a small, very small whisper then, but surely I heard Amane’s voice.
But by the time I looked up in surprise, Amane had already run off.
It’s as if she’s in a hurry to get away from something. ……

“Now …… surely reply?”

Communication, the first time in years that I had been able to say just one word, surprised me more than it pleased me, and a few minutes later my mother said to me, “What are you doing? You’re going to be late.” I stood there stunned until my mother said, “You’re going to be late.”

(TL/N : Unlike the last childhood friend story, this one seems to have a rather slower story progression…)

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