I had a strange dream that night.

I was a girl with fox features running around a large colosseum-like place while a giant octopus creature with a massive eye in the middle of its head tried to crush me with its tentacles. I used a katana to slash at its appendages while waiting for an opening to strike at it.

I wasn’t alone, either. Right by my side was a tall guy with bull horns, heaving his axe around, and blocking the massive creature’s attacks with his tower shield. And from the back, a girl with silvery hair and bunny ears harassed our foe with glittering blasts from a safe distance.

Both of the people I was with felt very familiar, and yet, not really. I couldn’t quite figure out who they were, but implicitly trusted them for some reason, whilst continuing to do my best fighting our enemy.

The dream ended with me and the bull guy cutting off the main two tentacles, and then our supporting bunny mage blasting the beast with a powerful spell which blinded me… and when I opened my eyes, I was lying in my bed.

Unlike most dreams, I actually remembered this dream without forgetting a single detail.

…

“Weird…” I murmured to myself whilst still lying in my bed.

It was obviously me in my not-true form fighting some kind of boss monster along with… two people I still couldn’t quite tell who they were.

Before I could think too much about it, the door to my room creaked open and my Mom peeked in.

“Oh, did I wake you up, honey?”

“No, no… I just woke up,” I said before yawning.

“Alright, I’m done making breakfast. It’s pancakes with strawberry jam, your favorite!”

I smiled. “Thanks, I’ll be right there.”

As I got up, made my bed, and changed from my pajamas, I thought a bit about that dream. About how great it had felt to be… her, my character, my not-true form. It’d made me feel free, like I’d been dancing around that monster…

Uh, other than that, what was I supposed to think about that dream? Had that been one of those… future-predicting dreams or something?

Why would I have a dream like that now?

I glanced at the closed portal in the middle of my room before sighing.

More mysteries.

I really couldn’t wait to come back home from school to investigate.

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I waved off these thoughts to enjoy the breakfast Mom made, thanked her, and said goodbye to her as she left for work before leaving for school myself.

Even though I didn’t have to get shocked by the gym hall’s portal anymore, the day felt worse than ever. I was restless, trying my best to draw my attention to anything that wasn’t RLO or my not-true form. It dragged on and on, and it was only the first class.

I felt like an addict. I had only been in that fox form for a few minutes and it was all I could think about when I wasn’t distracting myself with something else. How light I’d felt, how nice my voice had sounded, how I hadn’t gotten shocked by the damn portals, how fluffy the ears had been…

I couldn’t help but heave a deep sigh… whilst imagining my non-existent fox ears drooping down.

Dammit.

“Heeey… champion. I’m guessing yesterday’s date didn’t go as planned?” Frank appeared next to me while I was imitating a corpse on my desk.

“There was no date…” I managed to push out with my horribly-sounding voice without even looking up at him.

I felt his hand landing on my shoulder. “It’s gonna be fine. There’s plenty of fish in the sea. Don’t get too worked up over it. I’m sure she didn’t deserve you anyway!”

I groaned and was about to rant at him for still thinking there was some mysterious girl I had been on a date with, but the moment I got up from my desk and glanced at him, I stopped when I looked at his face.

…

Oh…

That face. No wonder it felt so familiar. Frank was the bull guy from the dream.

I sighed, finally realizing it.

That meant the bunny mage in the background had to have been Casey, right? Probably. I hadn’t gotten a good look at her inside that dream since she had been in the back, but it made sense.

“Don’t worry. Even if all girls in the world betrayed you, I will always stand by your side!”

I groaned, too exhausted to try and dispel whatever misunderstanding had formed in Frank’s head from my reaction.

I opted to go back to lying on my desk and trying and failing not to think about RLO, my fox form, and the dream.

Was the dream telling me to invite the two to my home and reveal everything to them? I wanted to, but part of me still felt like I should keep it a secret…

I was a terrible friend, wasn’t I?

The bell soon rang and it was time for another class. With so many conflicting and confused thoughts on my mind, this endurance test was getting unbearable. All I wanted was just to go home, turn into a foxgirl, and relax by exploring the game world.

…

Actually, was I weird for wanting to be a foxgirl? Shouldn’t I be a foxboy if anything? Well, Elyssa had said that it wasn’t my true true form, so maybe my true form was that of a foxboy…?

Hmm… yeah… that must have been it.

…

Why was I overthinking it so much? It was just a dumb game mechanic. It was just called true form. But it wasn’t as if it actually meant anything. Yeah, let’s just ignore this nonsense.

Somehow, even with my mindscape constantly tormented by the reality I’d found myself in, I made it through the school day and I was finally free to go home.

Except –

“Let’s go! Seriously, the sweets there are so weird. They have gummy cockroaches. Can you believe that?” Casey said while giggling.

– I’d forgotten I’d promised the two I would hang out with them, hadn’t I?

Dammit. I really just wanted to go home… But I didn’t want to be an even worse friend than I already was.

“Well then, let’s do our best to make our friend forget about yesterday’s heartbreak then!” Frank raised his palm and Casey high-fived it.

…

Maybe I should just go ahead and tell them about everything. I had no idea which video game deity had made me experience that dream, but I could clearly see what it had meant. Not to mention that telling them was the only way to convince them there never had been a date with a girl or anything like that.

Yeah… Let’s just tell them.

As casually as possible, when walking through the city toward the weird sweets shop, I asked, “Hey, guys. Do you want to go on an adventure this weekend?”

“Adventure? Like… camping?”

“No… Well, we could. But I’m thinking more of a… fantastical adventure.”