I was walking alone on a dark road that ran everywhere.

Where the hell am I? I don't see any private houses around, or at least, I'm pretty sure it's not the whole city...

With all that doubt, I kept walking even without hitting the darkness.

─ Oh, this dream again.

After a long walk, I was so sure.

Actually, I have this dream regularly. Besides, it's not just in this world. I've been dreaming about this for a long time.

Well... that's why I don't know. I just generally wake up on my own on a dark, endless path where I can no longer stand solitude. This is the pattern.

When I first had this dream in my previous life, I woke up with it done. But... now I'm not so rushed because I'm used to it. I just have to wait to wake up from my dreams, and I know it's a dream, because I learned there's nothing I can do about it where I made a scene.

- How come Ceres isn't next door?

Second, that thought shook my mind. For a long time, that's what I thought whenever I had this dream.

Since last life, she has largely appeared in my dreams. She was always next to me in my dreams and smiled gently at me.

But... only when I dream about it, she doesn't come out at all. Most of all, things were different now...

"You did such a terrible job, you didn't have to come out..."

Stop at the spot and mock yourself accidentally.

In the old days, anyway, now she hates me more than anyone else. I say my aspirations appear in dreams, but vice versa. In the last few months, Celes hasn't appeared in my dreams at all.

Apparently, I have the fact that I hate her more than I think I do.

"Oh, right. Of course he hates me."

!?

Out of nowhere, I heard voices. Surprised, I looked around in a hurry. But the Lord of the Voice is nowhere to be found.

What the hell are you talking about? Usually, there couldn't have been anyone else out there in this dream...

"I don't care who you love. Even if that was my real sister..."

"Who!?"

Sounds in the dark, some voice. But I was familiar with this voice.

"But I definitely can't tell you that thought. You know how much Chizuru trusts you as a family? What do you think would happen to my real brother if he found out he was looking at me with his eyes?

……

"Why did I tell you my thoughts when I said so much? Why 'd you hurt her? Until then, you wanted to get your thoughts done?

"You need it!? Where are you!? If you have something to say, come out and say it directly!

Disturbed I forgot it was in my dreams and shouted back like that to the sounding voice from over my head. Then other human voices rang from overhead without putting their hair in between.

"Wow, that's crazy. No matter how important it was about your sister, I can't believe you didn't even give other girls eyes. Honestly, I think it's beyond Cisco."

!?

What I kept hearing was a woman's voice. This word also sounds familiar.

That's what a classmate of mine used to say to himself in his first year of high school. As soon as she turned down her confession, she came to me with a disgusted look.

Unlike other girls, only she has made her point clearly. So very impressive. When I was so out of line upset, I heard yet another voice.

"I'm in trouble if my senior doesn't show up for the game! I'm worried about Senior Chizuru, and I know you want to see him... but when I say sick, it's just a cold, isn't it? Even Senior Chizuru is not a child, and you don't have to stay clear and see him! I mean... I've been thinking, aren't seniors too protective?

Now he's a junior in middle school. At the time, when I was in the athletics department, I had a glimpse from my advisors and other members.

That's why I missed the club tournament because I wanted to "see my sister with a fever," so my junior came into the house after the tournament. "I'm the only one who can see my sister because our adoptive parents work together and there's nobody home," explained the circumstances, but the junior didn't convince me. On the contrary, he indirectly tricked me with an eye like seeing an abnormal person.

"I'm not kidding... why should I be blamed? I really didn't want to be in a club. I always want to be by Chizuru, so much so that I wasted so much time in the club... you guys almost forced me to come in and say 'I really want you to come into our section'!?"

"... that's how you hurt everyone because you're going to be halfway nice. If you're not interested in me, I didn't want you to be nice. Even the club, if you really don't want to go in, you should have said no." I can't overlook people in need "is such a dialogue, that's a good thing. Are you gonna be a hero?

Again, I heard a woman who was a classmate in her previous life.

This woman has been getting into me for a long time. The reason for this must be that I helped her who was being bullied.

Thanks to the karate I started learning when I was in middle school, I was more skilled at the time than those defects there. So the students who were bullying her stopped bullying her because they were afraid of me since.

I didn't help her because I wanted to be treated like a hero. You're right, I just couldn't really overlook it.

This is what happened to me, probably because I was abused by my parents in my childhood. It simply overlaps the old self.

In my previous life, I was not as fine a person as she imagined. The reason I started learning karate is because I wanted to protect Chizuru. From that time on, all my driving forces have been Chizuru.

Human beings other than Thousand Cranes were secondary, even if they seemed gentle on the surface. Not at all, I think he was a selfish man.

I'm sure that was a huge miscalculation for her, who was finding an ideal for me.

Nevertheless...... it is true that at that time I purely wanted to 'help' her. Most of all, the feeling didn't seem to tell her at all......

"Even I respected my senior, didn't I? Seniors have always been our goal. He was an admirer. I really thought you were a trustworthy person. And I can't believe you betrayed us and missed an important tournament like that... not really."

"You've hurt so many people so far. And unconscious."

"It was Chizuru who wanted to protect us until he hurt us, wasn't it? Yet if I come with you now..."

Junior, classmate girl, three needy guys blamed me for mouthing.

"Stop it! Please don't do this anymore!

I couldn't stand the scolding and blaming bitterness from the three of them, and I scratched my head and screamed like that.

"How about if I come with you now? The mention that grieved your loved ones, physically and mentally - it's like a child who's wasting his time because he can't get what he wants. All right, listen up. You've committed an irrevocable sin."

A slightly lower voice of necessity echoed from overhead, neither angry nor sad.

"... no. No, it's not. I'm just..."

"Have you ever considered what it's like to be betrayed by someone you trust the most?

"... Huh! What do you guys know!? That... I know best that you didn't tell me. But... I can't go back to what I was before. The more I try to get back to who I was, the more I take the opposite word and action against Ceres..."

"Right...... I guess that's your answer. Then I'll try to save her my way."

When I thought I heard that from the top of my head, a sudden need appeared in front of my eyes as I sat on the spot holding my head.

I know him well in my previous life, as he was in high school...

"Want...?

"Too bad...... look"

At the same time that the need opened his mouth, his classmate girl and junior also showed up.

When they lined up next to each other, they looked at me with the same contempt.

"I'm so sorry. Wan-kun."

"I'm disappointed in my senior year"

"... disappear... please, disappear...! Don't ever show up in my dreams again!

I swung my right arm to the side full of force to get rid of the three of them. And as soon as that hand cut the sky in vain, the three phantoms disappeared all the time.

"Richt-kun! You okay?!?"

"... uhhh..."

When I opened my eyes, an inorganic white ceiling popped into my eyes. Moving his gaze next door, there was Dr. Melvin peeking into my face with a worried face.

"... Good morning, Doctor"

"Oh, you're up... It seemed like a long time ago, so I was wondering what it was. Were you even having a bad dream?

"Yeah, well..."

This is the fourth day since we stayed at the Sorcery Institute.

Apparently, I was having that nightmare while I was taking a nap in my break room bed. It felt like a long dream, but it hasn't even been an hour since I checked the clock and started taking a nap.

"I can't believe you're having nightmares... aren't you pretty tired?

"No...... I'm fine. It's time to get back to work."

"No, you should still be resting. I'll tell the other researchers."

"... excuse me"

Are you still tired because you dream so much like that? Or... is that a dream I had out of self-blame?

Either way, you're definitely exhausted... Having decided that, I decided to take a little more time off sweet on Melvin's generosity.

"I know you're tired of your job too... but as always, you and your sister aren't doing well either, are you? Isn't that the cause, too?

"Yeah right...... I think that has a lot to do with it"

Me and Melvin got to know each other during a ten-year-old magic test. At the time, he had just been assigned to the magic institute in Wangdu, and it was because he began to be interested in my magic powers that I began to contact him every now and again. Because we've known each other for a long time like that, or we're close, whether it's work or private.

Years away, but I rarely reveal my troubles to others. I am also the only person who can easily consult.

No, if I add up my previous life's age, am I his age too? For that reason, or even talking like this, I don't feel very old.

I've been consulting Melvin a lot about Ceres for a long time. So, to some extent, we know what's going on with our sister and brother.

Of course, you know I'm trapped in a mansion with not much jealousy. Basically, the master is free to treat his own servants, so he won't be held guilty just because he imprisoned her.

Nevertheless, I could not even say that I have a forceful physical relationship with Ceres on the boulder.

But... sooner or later there may be a time when we need to talk. Anyway, I'm trying to have a baby with Ceres...

"Again, right...... Sure, you'll be attending your first night club next week. It's an overcrowded schedule."

"Yeah, that's right. I'm sixteen years old too, so my father told me it was time to debut the social world..."

"Damn, that's really tough. The noble one..."

"Ha ha... right"

I smiled back at Melvin for shrugging my shoulders.