It was seven in the morning, the bright morning sunshine that traveled through the small thin line between my balcony’s curtain painted a thin glow on top of my bed. My smartphone’s alarm rang from my work desk, playing a tune I’m already familiar with, waking me up for yet another day. I stretched my limbs and let out a yawn.

Another peaceful morning.

I thought. I looked to the left of my bed, finding my Bluetooth speaker turned off. The small, blue-colored speaker sat there comfortably, without doing a thing. This was unusual, as under normal circumstances I would turn on some relaxing piano songs before I went to sleep. Last night must have been so tiring to the point I messed up and didn’t turn them on.

They weren’t essential for a good sleep, so it wasn’t like my brain needed it or anything, although I do find it weird how it let out weird sounds despite being off. I picked it up and brought it to my ear, wanting to confirm it. As I sat on the edge of the bed, I realized that the sound, a peaceful snoring, didn’t come from my speaker. I held it up on my left ear, but the voice came from behind me. I returned the speaker to the table and turned around.

“Ahh!”

I let out a scream, pushing myself off the bed, falling back first onto the white ceramic floor, almost hitting the wall. The entire room was painted white. The walls, ceilings, and even floor. Even my bed had all white sheets and pillows. The bedside tables and my work desk were made of wood and had a light brown color, while my gaming chair was mainly black with a dark blue accent running from top to down. Everything else remained the same, including the small kitchen set that shared colors with my desk, even the silver cookware on top of it didn’t move.

I was definitely in my room, there was nothing wrong about it. I had only been living in this room for two weeks, but even that was enough time for me to understand the ins and outs of the small place I lived in. I stood up and approached the thing that made me jump in the first place.

A sleeping girl.

She faced the right of the bed, away from the balcony, sleeping soundly, undisturbed by my alarm nor me falling off. So many questions flew through my mind.

For one, just who is she?

I couldn’t bring any names, nor did I remember her face. She had long, smooth light brown hair, a rounded chin, and a shallow rounded nose. I extended my hand and touched her left hand which was exposed from the pink pajama she wore.

It’s… real.

I could feel her soft skin on the tip of my fingertip, precisely just like how I touched that Torii gate. But if she followed the same rules as that Torii gate, doing something would get her to disappear. I had so many questions, but since this was a human, I hoped that she could answer.

On a side note, there’s no way this girl was that Torii gate, right? Right?

Japanese light novels were known for their hilariously long titles with weird plotlines. This girl right in front of me felt exactly like those kinds of things.

The Torii Gate I Crossed Turns Out To Be A Girl or something like that.

I still couldn’t believe that all of this was real, however, so I tried pitching my cheeks.

And it hurts.

I could rule out this being a dream by doing that, I think, but it didn’t explain anything. I headed toward my front door and tried to open it, just in case it wasn’t locked, but to my surprise, it was shut. I inserted my key and tried opening it. My lock worked perfectly fine, and the door’s front side was unscathed. I then checked the window. My apartment was located on the nineteenth floor, so climbing in from the outside didn’t make sense, but nothing made sense at this point. The sliding glass door that parted the world outside of my apartment was also locked and untouched.

Besides, would someone go through so much effort to break into someone’s room just to sleep? It made absolutely no sense. None of my belongings disappeared anyway. I couldn’t hold myself anymore and returned to her side.

“Hey, wake up.”

I said softly while slowly pushing her around.

“Urgh…”

She blinked her eyes three times, her clear cedar brown eyes appearing from her opening and closing eyelids. She stopped and stared at me, her eyes going wide. She turned around and with speed. She reached out her hands and swung them around.

What-

Something soft hit my stomach with full force, something invisible. It's force enough to push me back to the wall, sending my back crashing into it, again.

“Argh!”

“Pervert!”

She threw insults at me, despite being the one that entered my room forcefully.

“What are you talking about?!”

I screamed my retort, my back still aching behind me. She was visibly spooked and shrunk. She kicked her feet and pedaled with her hands, pulling her entire body backward and away from me. Her eyes became soft as she stared at me in disbelief.

“... Simon?”

She called my name.

“Did I know-”

My memory came flashing back at me, screaming through my nerves or whatever. A single name appeared in my mind, a name that I used to be close with.

“Emily, it’s you!? How!?”

I screamed unintentionally, taking her aback. She used to have short hair, but it had been a while, so some other things also changed. She furrowed her brows, her mouth twisted in a frown.

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“What do you mean, how!? We haven’t even talked in years and the first thing you did was crawl onto my bed?”

“Your bed my ass! Can’t you see around you?”

“Oh, you mean the pink walls that clearly represent my taste!? Or what, gonna complain about the anime stickers from your most hated shows that I liked!?”

“What the heck do you mean? It’s clearly white, are you blind!?”

“Blind, you’re the one that’s blind!”

I feel like my blood vessels could pop at any moment. I clenched my fist, not understanding what she saw in my room that could be described as pink. As I thought of a retort that would put her down, I saw something. She was sitting inside my pillow, her butt and a portion of her stomach being covered by it. When she moved earlier, her body didn’t seem to affect the bed in any shape or form.

Curious, I leaned closer to the bed, reaching my arm out.

“What- what are you doing!?”

She shrieked, her eyes looking at me in terror.

“You pervert!”

She swung her hand down on me and slapped my wrist.

“Argh!”

It hurt so much that I violently pulled my hand back. In a sudden, unexplainable decision, I grabbed the bedsheets and pulled them, hoping it would cause her to lose balance and fall. The entire thing moved, dragging the pillow on top of it closer to me, but to my absolute surprise, Emily didn’t move, not even a single centimeter. Not even her pose changed, and the sheets felt light as well.

“... What are you doing?”

She asked, her eyes staring sharply at me, like daggers attempting to stab me to death.

“Can you grab me that pillow?”

I pointed to my pillow in the middle of the bed. I had pulled it closer to me, to the point where I could reach it without getting close to her, but she didn’t seem to understand.

“What pillow?”

“That one.”

“The only pillow in here is the one on your feet, dumbass.”

I looked down, but below me, there was nothing but the white ceramics that formed my apartment floor. I looked back at my bed and took the pillow myself, before using my full strength to throw it at her. The pillow went straight through her, hitting the other side of the wall. I quickly grabbed my body pillow, and using it as a sword somewhat, swung it up high and pulled it down on her. This time, I didn’t let go of it as it struck her.

“Ack!”

She let out a scream as it hit her face and she fell backward onto the floor, similar to how I fell earlier today.

“You’ll pay for… this…”

She crawled on the floor, looking for something. At first, I assumed she was looking for the pillow that I threw at her, but despite her eyes going back and forth, presumably going past the pillow multiple times, she didn’t seem to find it. The pillow was literally behind her, but she didn’t seem to notice for some reason. I put my body pillow on the bed and pushed it her way. It rolled and fell right beside her, but she didn’t notice.

“Eh? Huh?”

She said, perplexed. She kept looking toward the part in front of her, not bothering to check her sides.

“I’ll pay? Why don’t you throw it back, then?”

“Shut up!”

She yelled, her eyes glued to my floor, my bedroom’s floor.

“What did you see?”

“What the heck do you mean?”

“What do you see?”

I asked while trying to be as calm as I possibly could. This event was very confusing for me, but it seemed to be that way for her as well. She let out an irritated sigh.

“Can’t you see? Brown wooden plating, white carpet? Are you dumb?”

“I see…”

“What do you mean ‘I see’?”

“I mean I don't see.”

“Huh? Explain things more clearly, could you?”

She asked, the impatience visible clearly in her voice. I didn’t remember Emily acting like this, but to be fair, it wasn’t like I’m in my calmest state. At this point, we both were on edge, and we hadn’t met each other in a long while.

“I could see you, you could see me, but that’s about it. We’re in two entirely different places as of now.”

“... You’re not in my bedroom?”

“Nope. That’s why neither of us can see each other’s pillows.”

“But we can feel it?”

She asked as she stood up. She walked toward me and took the ‘pillow’ near my feet. She then brought it up to my head and put it on top. I couldn’t see the pillow itself, but I could see her tip-toeing, her hands holding something above my head. I couldn’t see anything other than her palms, but I could feel the soft pillow weighing down on my head. She let go of it, and the feeling instantly disappeared.

“Did it fall off?”

“Correct.”

She then walked toward the side of the room, and from my position, she headed closer to my work desk. She turned right toward an empty side, right above my trash can, and pulled something.

“Can you sit here?”

She pointed to where seemingly a chair was located. I compiled and brought my butt on it and rested my back on its backrest. I could feel the cushion, but all of that feeling disappeared and I fell back, landing between her feet.

“What- what do you think you’re doing?”

She leaped backward.

“Who told you to let go, huh!?”

“Oh.”

“Don’t ‘oh’ me!”

“Ah.”

“Not that either!”

I let out a tired sigh.

“Look, I got morning class, so I kindly ask you to not bother me.”

I said as I stood back up.

“You’re going to change in front of me!? You’re a big-”

“Of course not! Who do you think I am!?”

“Urgh!”

We were both frustrated. She turned around and walked away from me. I don’t know where she was heading, but from my point of view, she looked as if she was going toward my balcony. I snorted and walked toward my toilet, which was in the opposite direction from the balcony. I glanced to the corner of my eyes, realizing that she was following me.

“Really? You claim I’m a pervert but you’re the one following me.”

My words prompted her to turn around.

“Wait… huh?”

Seeing her turn, I turned to fully face her. She furrowed her brows. She pointed toward me, before looking around her room.

“Huh....”

I kept my eyes on her and started moving backward, my eyes glued to her. As I moved, Emily, who was supposed to be in front of my desk, was pulled along with me.

“You’re joking, right?”

“... Try walking further away that way.”

Emily told me and I complied, all while looking at her. Eventually, my back hit the door. She was also walking toward the opposite side while looking back at me as well.

“This… this is some kind of joke, right?”

She said, her voice shaking. Despite going in a completely different direction, she didn’t move any farther. Instead, she was dragged along with me, remaining at a fixed distance away from me.

“What’s… what’s going on?”

She fell onto her knees, her hands covering her face.

“Why… I don’t get it.”

She started to sob. I approached her, she was no longer moving around. Despite doing that, I had no idea what to do or say to her. She cried, and yet I stood there unable to say anything.

“I’m… sorry.”

Had I not passed through that Torii gate yesterday, none of this would have happened. I was sure of it. I need to find that weird gate and separate my life from her.