Something was wrong.

I stared at the ceiling of my bedroom. My phone’s alarm blared next to me, filling the room with its unnatural noise.

Something in my gut compelled me to look around my bedroom. Everything was in the same place as always. Other than a slight headache, my body also felt the same as usual.

Yet, I couldn’t shake off that intangible feeling that something was amiss.

I got up and sat there in a daze for who knows how long. I wasn’t trying too hard to figure out what was wrong; I just lacked the will to overcome the inertia to do anything.

The still raucous alarm became too much to bear, so I turned it off and started my morning routine.

However, as I tried my hardest to focus on reality, I realized that an ungodly amount of time had passed since I woke up. Without anyone in the house to warn me, I most definitely was going to be late for school.

I left home with a hasty excuse for breakfast and braced myself for Ayumi’s inevitable outburst of how late we would be. After all, no matter how late either of us were, we would always go to school together.

For me, that was as much of a fact as the sun rising each morning.

However, that day, Ayumi wasn’t waiting for me.

* * *

I managed to enter the classroom just in the nick of time, and the first period was completely uneventful. When the first break came, however, it felt like I had gone through a portal to another dimension and found myself in a den of weirdos.

The first break of the week was always noisy. It was a time for relaxation after the grueling first period of a new week. But it was also the first opportunity for friends to gather and share their weekend endeavors. As such, the class was always particularly giddy—annoyingly so, I’d say—at this time.

However, on this particular day, both the conversations and the atmosphere were far from the usual.

“Have you heard? There are a ton of weird incidents happening all over the world.”

“Even the most reputable mass media are now reporting on them. They said an entire village disappeared in Laos! Can you imagine?”

“What? In Laos? That’s sooo scary. Imagine that happening here!”

“There’s even stuff happening near us too. Do you think this is, like, the apocalypse?”

A sense of fear and confusion permeated each conversation scattered throughout the classroom. Everyone was talking about the supernatural incidents regardless of their previous interest in the topic. Two firm camps had formed among my classmates—those who were skeptical of the whole thing and insisted on rational explanations; and the ones who wholeheartedly believed it was all true.

Really, my classmates are way too gullible…

The resident expert on all things supernatural, however, was oddly tame. She was playing the excited, yet subdued role of a believer for her girlfriends. Either she had some secret acting skills I didn’t know about or something else was going on.

Ayumi has been acting kind of odd today. She always waits for me so we can go to school together.

When I got the chance to bring up the topic with her, Ayumi genuinely felt remorseful about it.

“I’m so sorry, Takkun!” Ayumi exclaimed, bowing and apologizing. “I was kind of late myself, so I just assumed you had gone on ahead of me.”

I replied with some tame response, brushing off any further commentary.

Her excuse makes sense, but… this is Ayumi we’re talking about. Common sense doesn’t apply to her.

I shifted mental gears and was about to bring up the whole supernatural situation with her when my front desk neighbor beat me to the chase.

“Hey, Ayumi. What do you think about the incidents?” Daichi whispered with a grin, precariously balancing his chair on its hind legs.

I’ll not stop myself from laughing if you tumble to the floor, Daichi.

Ayumi took a moment to reply as if she had been gathering her thoughts.

“Of course, I’m super excited! All these incidents happening all over the place… I bet angels are behind them. The chances of meeting one has definitely skyrocketed these last few days!”

It took a while for Ayumi’s words to hit me. A sour look crossed my face. I felt sick to my stomach.

“Yo, Takeya. What’s wrong?” Daichi asked, breaking me out of my trance. “That’s quite a face you’re making over there, buddy.”

My expression is that bad, huh?

“Ayumi, you just said you think angels are causing these incidents, right?!” I asked with such force I caused the girl to jerk back.

“Y-Yeah, I did,” she replied after glancing around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on our conversation.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“But didn’t we conclude the other day that angels only appear after the incidents?”

Ayumi reacted by crooking her head.

“I guess you’re right.” She paused. “When did we figure that out anyway?”

For once, I was speechless.

When did we figure that out, exactly? I…

I couldn’t remember.

Was it last year or was it yesterday? I have no idea. I’m pretty certain we did, but didn’t I also make a promise with Ayumi? A promise… A promise…

No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t remember anything. It was a total blank.

Heck, it probably was during one of those random missions we went on. It’s not that important.

Daichi’s comment was what snapped me out of my thinking bubble. “If what you’re saying is right and angels only appear after these incidents, then this is the perfect opportunity! There’s strange stuff happening all over the place now.”

“Yeah, you’re right! We should grab this opportunity right away. Takkun, are you—”

I cut Ayumi’s sentence short before she could spew any more nonsense. “I have work today. Plus, don’t you think it’s about time you start preparing for the university exams?”

At that point, I was expecting Ayumi to retort back with her usual spiel.

And yet, she didn’t.

“Huh… That’s unfortunate. Well, I guess we can wait for another day. Or would you rather let me go on my own?”

“Anything but that.”

“Gosh, darn it,” she said with a joyous smile.

With perfect timing, the bell rang to start the next period. Still, I couldn’t take my mind off the silly conversation we just had.

Ayumi really was acting weird that day.

* * *

Throughout the rest of the day, I couldn't keep my mind off of the strange occurrences that had happened that morning. And I don't mean the supposed supernatural incidents.

On my way to the bookstore, the chilly air helped me cool off. I concluded that homework and the devious detective's shenanigans might have had a greater toll on me than I expected. “I'm just tired,” I told myself as I put on the store apron for another afternoon of work. Since Ayumi wouldn’t be joining me, I would take the chance to relax and spend most of my time reading.

Not many customers came by as tends to be the case during winter. I was about to close the shop when I heard the familiar chime of the doorbell.

I turned to the door and addressed the customer entering the store.

“Welcome,” I said, rather lethargically.

I recognized her immediately. Because I had seen her so many times, I realized right away that something was off with her.

She was acting erratically, her eyes darting around all over the place.

“G-Good afternoon,” Shiina said, looking shyly at the floor, eyes hidden behind her bangs.

Without giving me any time to respond, the woman hurried to the back of the store with an unexpected bashfulness. Her long black hair swayed wildly behind her.

That’s Shiina… right? Was she always this shy?

I was about to accept that very notion, but something on the back of my mind kept nagging at me. All my previous encounters with her came back, one after the other. In all of them, she never acted like this. It was like she was a different person.

When my memories landed on my last encounter with her, I began to blush.

The last time we met, I tried to hit on the poor girl, and failed spectacularly. I thought I had already moved past the embarrassment, but it still perturbed me. Shiina’s weird attitude likely derived from that horrible flirting attempt. I thought for sure she would never set foot here again.

That Ayumi… forcing me to do that.

Wait.

There’s that feeling again.

I know Ayumi was the one who forced me to speak with Shiina, but why? They only met once, and Ayumi isn’t one for matchmaking.

Why do I feel like something is missing?

No matter how much I racked my brain about it, I couldn’t reach a conclusion. It was like I was chasing a formless mist in my mind. No matter how much I tried, I wasn’t able to reach it, much less touch it.

“Um…”

A weak voice pierced my mental blockage, forcing me to look up.

In front of the counter, Shiina stood fidgeting with a book against her chest. It seemed like she had been standing there for a while.

Her face still had the same sharp features, and she was just as tall as I remembered. Her attitude, however, was drastically different—so different that she seemed like another person. Her fidgeting and the embarrassing way she hid her expression made her look—dare I say it—cute. Her relaxed expression also made her look far more approachable than before. It was truly mystifying.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said, bowing my head multiple times.

“N-No, it’s okay,” she said, shrinking into herself even further.

I raised my head and stared into her eyes which seemed even redder than before. I was waiting for her to hand me the book, but it looked like Shiina.exe stopped responding. She made no move to break the stalemate, so we ended up staring at each other for a few excruciating seconds.

Eventually, I decided enough was enough. “Hmm, you want me to handle that?”

Three seconds passed.

Jeez, I can’t figure out if she’s slow-witted or just bad at human interaction.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry!” She finally handed me the book with trembling hands.

I rang her up like I had done dozens of times before, but with a stronger, torturous feeling than usual.

Despite the adorable contrast she was displaying, I was hoping she’d leave as soon as possible. All this awkwardness was starting to be rather taxing.

However, even after I handed back her book Shiina stayed rooted to the floor, fidgeting with the plastic bag’s handle.

After a few deep breaths, she finally spoke. “Um… About your p-proposal the other day…” her voice faded out near the end.

“Proposal?” I asked without thinking.

“Y-Yes, for coffee…” she said, breaking eye contact. I could see a tinge of pink forming on her cheeks.

Hearing this, my eyes went wide.

What? Why is she bringing this up now? Don’t tell me…

“I was wondering… if you were f-free this weekend,” she asked, her voice almost imperceptible. For a moment, I believed I had imagined it.

Not only did I not expect her to show up here again, but she even brought up that sorry attempt at a date herself.

But I couldn’t come out and say that Ayumi was the one who concocted the whole affair.

I feel sorry for her…

“S-Sure. I don’t have anything particularly important to do,” I replied with the kindest smile I could muster.

A genuine, adorable smile rose on her face. “G-Great! Could we exchange contacts?” she asked, almost pleading.

“Of course.”

We then exchanged phone numbers.

Awkwardly, of course.

“I’ll contact you… later this week. See you later,” she said, leaving the store with quick feet and a little wave.

After she left, I stood there in a daze.

What the heck just happened?