Prologue

Suddenly—but when you hear the phrase “childhood friend” in a romantic comedy, what comes to mind?

A serious honor student? A caring, nurturing type? A great cook? …Or perhaps—just perhaps—the losing heroine who ultimately has the protagonist stolen away by the main heroine?

…Yeah, I get it. Childhood friends lose, don’t they?

And those childhood friends almost always end the story smiling as they congratulate the protagonist in the final episode.

Don’t smile.

You’re allowed to cry.

Even if that trend might indeed be the mainstream view out there… personally, I’m the type who wants to cheer for the childhood friend.

I mean, aren’t they all so earnest? Most of the time, they’ve stayed close for so long that they end up unable to say what they really feel—and there’s something modest and beautiful about that.

So honestly, I hope childhood friends around the world get their happy endings. I want them to be rewarded.

But… as with anything, there are exceptions.

Unfortunately.

At that moment, I noticed something suspicious moving in the corner of my vision, and I stopped the train of thought I’d been following. As I kept walking, I casually flicked my hand upward.

A split second later, the hand of my childhood friend passed through the exact spot where my hand had been.

…Just as I thought. She was aiming for it.

But she’s still too naive.

I stopped walking and turned to stare at the childhood friend beside me. She looked back with the eyes of an abandoned puppy. I could almost hear a little whining sound effect.

Apparently, it was completely obvious that I’d dodged her on purpose.

A faint sense of guilt spread in my chest.

But sorry. There’s just one thing here I absolutely can’t compromise on.

Trying to at least make up for it, I gave her a cheerful smile. The childhood friend relaxed in relief, then pointed at my hand and timidly opened her mouth.

"Are you cold?"

…Looks like she hasn’t given up yet.

I get it. Walking home while holding hands is nice. Especially with a childhood friend.

But that’s exactly why I can’t allow it.

Please understand.

For reference, today’s forecast said the lowest temperature would be 10°C. Pretty chilly for autumn.

"...No, I’m not cold at all. If anything, I’m kind of hot."

"But look—your hand is this cold."

Before I could react, she suddenly grabbed my hand tightly.

I casually—but firmly—shook her hand off, then took about three steps back, quickly putting some distance between us.

"No, that’s not it. You startled me by touching me so suddenly, so my body temperature dropped."

"That’s not how that works!?"

Of course it isn’t.

Don’t believe something like that.

I decided to stop standing around talking with my childhood friend and started walking again. If I stayed here chatting, I’d just be giving her more chances to attack.

But for some reason, she didn’t follow me.

What’s going on?

When I turned around, she was standing there with a serious expression, staring sadly at her own hand.

…Sorry.

It’s not like your hand is dirty or anything.

Pretending not to notice anything, I called out to my sorrowful-looking childhood friend.

"What’s wrong?"

"No… it’s nothing."

"Come on, let’s go, Masataka."

"Hey, wait… Shione!"

My childhood friend, Masataka, hurried to catch up with me. Standing side by side like this, my line of sight barely reached his shoulders.

His official profile says he’s close to 180 centimeters tall, after all.

And meanwhile, on my side…

I quietly glanced down at my own body.

A small, compact frame wrapped in a school uniform. Pale, slender arms and legs.

It had already been a while since things became like this, but the skirt fluttering in the wind was still something I couldn’t get used to at all.

…I do want childhood friends to end up happy together.

That much is true.

But as I said earlier—there are exceptions.

Sadly.

To begin with, how did things even end up like this?

What exactly happened?

Even when I look back on it myself, I can’t quite figure it out.

The strange events began a little while ago.

Now then—sorry to spring this on you again, but one of my hobbies is playing dating simulation games.

You know, the kind with lots of cute girls.

And in those games, you usually end up developing romantic relationships with those cute characters.

Well, the word “romance” is right there in the name, after all.

That day, on my way home from university, I was hurrying back while clutching a brand-new game that had just been released.

Conveniently enough, it was Friday—meaning the weekend was ahead. The perfect setup.

In other words, I was pretty excited.

But when I got home and opened my bag, something unfamiliar came out along with the game.

It was black and pointed—something like a stone.

…What was it?

It looked kind of like the arrowheads you see in Japanese history textbooks… yeah, something like obsidian.

What the heck is this?

Well, whatever. That can wait.

At the time, I had something far more important to deal with.

So I put the mysterious stone aside and immediately started playing the game.

At first, I intended to stop at a reasonable hour.

But the story kept getting more and more interesting, and before I knew it, I completely lost track of when to stop…

And then, Monday morning—after three straight sleepless nights.

I celebrated every choice and even shed tears at some of the story developments. Moving at what was probably near-record speed, I reached the ending for every character.

Honestly, if I had to sum it up in one word:

It was simply incredible.

A story that intertwined a group of unique, adorable heroines with an old legend said to grant wishes in the town.

Every single part of it matched my tastes perfectly.

I even found myself thinking that all the games I’d played up until now had only been leading me to this one.

Closing my eyes, I leaned back in my chair and let myself bask in the afterglow.

Pop.

It felt like something snapped behind my head, and a warm sensation slowly began to spread.

Maybe my body was expressing its emotional reaction to the story.

…Wait!

If I fall asleep like this, maybe I’ll see what happens next in a dream!

An after-story meant only for me, awarded as the prize for clearing the game at world-record speed.

If there’s ever a moment when that dream would appear, wouldn’t it be right now?

Yeah. That has to be it.

No doubt about it.

Still feeling excited, I slipped into bed, and sleepiness quickly washed over me.

Once more, I thought about the game I had just finished.

It had truly been a dreamlike time.

If only I could have a world like that…

A school life like that…

As I slowly drifted into sleep, I wished for it over and over again.

Strongly.

…Ah…

If only I could go to a world like that too—

Apparently, I fell asleep just like that.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, my eyes suddenly snapped open.

My whole body was wrapped in the sluggish heaviness that comes from sleeping for a long time.

But strangely enough, I didn’t feel sleepy at all.

A surprisingly refreshing awakening for someone who had stayed up three nights straight.

However, when I sat up with a small groan, a faint sweet scent drifted through the air.

At the same time, I felt silky brown hair brushing softly against my shoulders.

…Hold on.

I literally just woke up, but something feels very wrong here.

First of all, my hair is black—and it’s definitely not long. So what is this hair?

And more importantly… aren’t these clothes different too?

It feels like I’m wearing some ridiculously fancy pajamas…

Still confused, I slowly looked around the room with my still-blurry eyes. Gradually, my vision focused, and the scene inside the room came into view.

The room was unfamiliar, decorated mostly in white.

But there were cute stuffed animals placed here and there.

…Wait a second. Isn’t this obviously a girl’s room?

…Did I unconsciously sneak into a girl’s room while asleep or something?

Isn’t that bad?

No—scratch that. That’s definitely bad.

For the moment, I quietly slipped out from under the blanket and cautiously climbed down from the bed.

I had an incredibly bad feeling about this.

The suddenly long hair, this room, and the overly fancy pajamas I was wearing.

And unless my eyesight has deteriorated dramatically…

…I very clearly have a chest.

Yeah. I still have absolutely no idea what’s going on.

What is this?

A dream?

Am I still dreaming?

Still in a state of confusion, I approached the nearby desk and noticed several framed photographs displayed on it.

And for some reason, every single one of them looked strangely familiar.

Because they were exactly like the event illustrations from the game.

The same composition. The same scenes.

Except… these were photographs, not drawings.

But the people in them unmistakably resembled the characters from the game.

That didn’t answer any of my questions at all.

"If only I could go to the world of the game…"

Remembering the words I had muttered before falling asleep, a terrible feeling crept over me.

…Wait a minute.

Yes, I did say that.

I definitely said it.

But when someone says they want to go to the world of a game, what they mean is that they want to become the protagonist. That’s the important point here.

I don’t think many guys would say that and mean they want to become a female character.

No, hold on.

More importantly, people going into the world of a game is already completely unrealistic to begin with.

Yeah.

No way.

That’s definitely impossible.

At that moment, I noticed a mirror in the corner of the room.

I walked over and stood in front of it. My reflection appeared clearly in the glass.

I stared at it for a while.

Then I returned to the bed and collapsed face-first onto it with a heavy thud.

In the mirror had been soft, brownish hair that fell past the shoulders.

Large eyes.

Slightly drooping brows that made the face look timid.

Skin so pale it seemed almost transparent.

It was one of the heroines.

Yozakura Shione.

"What is this…?"

The voice that came out of my throat was unmistakably that of a girl—about an octave higher than my usual voice.

After that, I spent some time in complete denial.

But then a woman who seemed to be my mother came to wake me up.

So I somehow changed into a school uniform and began walking to school while trying to organize my thoughts.

Still… my legs feel so breezy.

When I tried to leave the house wearing track pants instead, my “mother” (tentative) gave me a suspicious look, so I reluctantly had no choice but to wear the skirt.

Once I get to school, I swear I’m going to propose a rule that female students should also be allowed to wear pants.

…Oops. That’s not important right now.

More importantly—about the girl I currently am…

—Yozakura Shione.

Childhood friend plus the “sickly girl” archetype.

She suffers from an illness of unknown cause and collapses frequently. Maybe because of that, she has a timid side—but at the same time, she possesses a kindness that always puts others first.

She often ends her sentences with phrases like “~dayo” or “~dayo~.”

She loves sweets.

She’s good at cooking.

Personally, she was my #2 favorite heroine.

Even after listing all those traits, the only thing we have in common is that we’re both human.*1

Sure, I did want to experience that world as one of its characters and interact with the others.

If this is a dream, then it’s pretty close to what I wished for.

But…

"Nope. Yeah. This is impossible."

Because if the photos on the desk are anything to go by, it looks like this is heading straight into Shione’s route.

Which means… worst case scenario…

The protagonist and I would end up together?

I like admiring cute girls.

But I do not like being admired as a cute girl.

And if I refuse…

"When nobody ends up together, the ending is brutal…"

Seriously.

It’s one of those endings where basically everyone ends up miserable.

In Shione’s case, she supposedly leaves the country for treatment and disappears without a trace.

When you enter a specific heroine’s route, the other heroines eventually find happiness in their own ways.

But if the protagonist ends up with no one?

Everyone’s lives go downhill.

What kind of guy is that protagonist anyway?

Some kind of dark sorcerer?

Well, realistically speaking, this whole situation is probably just a dream.

After all, becoming a character inside a game isn’t something that could actually happen.

But dream or not, becoming a heroine is absolutely not something I signed up for.

At the same time, though, I don’t want any of the characters to end up unhappy either.

And judging by the photos on the desk, it looks like we’re still barely before entering any specific heroine route.

I tilted my head slightly in thought.

In that case… alright.

"...What if I switch to another character’s route starting now?"

That way I won’t suffer, and the characters won’t be miserable either.

Everyone wins.

Perfect plan.

I’ll gladly hand over the right to end up with the protagonist to the other heroines.

No need to thank me.

But…

There’s still one major problem remaining.

Right then, a female student who had just passed me on the way to school suddenly turned around and smiled at me.

She raised her hand energetically in greeting.

"Shione-chan! Good morning! Are you feeling okay today?"

"………Good morning~. Yeah… I’m fine… today. Thanks."

Slowing my pace, I smiled at the classmate walking beside me.

…This.

This is the big problem.

If I replied with something like, “Hey. Who are you again?” then the entire world setting would probably collapse before we even get to the route issue.

So I have to respond without breaking Shione-chan’s character.

And that is exhausting.

It feels like something inside my soul is being slowly shaved away.

Quietly, I let out a small sigh as I walked.

All I wanted was to exist quietly and watch the characters of this world interact…

"If it had to be like this, I would’ve rather been born as a tree growing in the schoolyard…"

"What’s wrong all of a sudden, Shione-chan!? You don’t sound okay at all!?"