The unchanging pain of life turns into an illusion, while things that were already illusions invade reality.

Leasy High, my school, was after school now.

The girls in my grade usually join club activities. But I am not. I just go back after school.

As I approached the school's main entrance, about a hundred meters away, I saw several figures there.

My mouth twitched and I turned to walk towards the small gate behind the school.

As I walked out of the school safely, I saw her, the girl with waist-length hair and a black school uniform. There was a name label on her collar. She had a sweet look, sweet as sugar.

She was Emma Drenason, the girl in the same school, and I was in love with her."Let's go," I said to her.

My short hair was blown. I looked right at Emma, the wind blew up her long hair as usual.

"What's wrong? Kelsy?" Emma noticed my sight unexpectedly - of course, she would, wouldn't she?

"Well, nothing."

"Ah...you'd like to look at me like this, and say 'nothing'." Emma looked at me, then look straight, "By the way, I spaced out again today."

"Ah,y-yeah? ...Is it? Oh, that makes sense, you said you always lost consciousness or something..." I said this with a little guilty conscience.

Suddenly, Emma hooked my hand with her left finger and grabbed my whole hand. I felt a little shy, but still gently adjusted our hands to interlock our fingers.

Silenced for a moment, romanticly.

"E-Emma..."I said slowly, "Where do you like to...go for the date tomorrow?"

"Mount Jupiter, let's go tomorrow!" Emma answered energetically.

"Mount Jupiter? I don't think now people like to hang out there."

"But there's a new-built children's park, isn't there?"

"Ah...guess so. But, hey, we are grown-old high students now, aren't we?"

"Kid and child, always and forever!"So she was always so cute and simple.

In America, no one will deny the love between same genders now, right?

But I know someone who..."

Ah, Kel, here's your house!"Emma said loudly. I looked up, so here I am."Hmm, I'm going-"

"A moment, Kel!" Emma suddenly acted coquettish, staring at me with her watery eyes. I knew what she was looking forward to.

"Yeah. One time o' kiss?"My face slowly approached hers.

Gradually, I could smell the fragrance on her body and feel her breath. Our lips overlapped, and this moment felt not real, like a dream...Yes, it is a dream, indeed.

Home.

My Asian mother said "Welcome back" without a turning back.

"Oh, Kelsy, you didn't be too 'close' to those girls, right?" She said.

"No...I did not."

Now you know who denies it. Deniness from my closest family.

I returned to my room and lay down on the bed. Several paintings were scattered around me. A bottle of Perphenazine was silently telling the past in the corner of the room.

I really didn't get too close to the girl... if she was a real girl.Emma is just my imagination, after all.

I'm not sure what happened before middle school. For as long as I can remember, almost no one was hanging with me.

I was drawing in the corner, alone.One day, a girl started to get in touch with me. Her name is Sophmin Lynn, my deskmate.

She was interested in me for no reason. Despite all my flaws, she accepted me.She was perfect. I'm not sure what she saw in me, even now. But as soon as we met, she wanted to spend every waking moment with me.

The special feeling... dominated me.That was really..." like a dream".

Then...we fell for each other.

But you know, people like me always get their dream broken.

My mother from Asia - found and adopted me when she was 20 - knew that.

For the older generation of Asians, this was unacceptable. But instead of scolding me, my mother kept talking to me about her ideas and thoughts. We were separated by my mother's "persuasion".

It was around my freshman year of high school that I felt a pain I had never felt before. This pain came partly because of the aftermath of losing the love, and partly because of the bullying I was experiencing.

The bully was a girl in the same class with natural curls. As I was withdrawn and introverted, she could "conveniently" surround me after school with a group of "juniors" and ask me for "pocket money". She threatened me with a beating if I didn't pay, and she said that if I repeatedly "broke the rules" she would order her an underclassman to - you know what I mean - on me.

I can't do anything about it.

I started just wanting someone to talk to, so I imagined an innocent young girl, Emma Drenason.

She looked a lot like Sophmin, with her sweet face and watery eyes ...... The only difference, I guess, was that she had long hair and Sophmin had short hair.

I was only thinking of letting her talk to me for one day, just one day.

But after that, she stayed with me, every day and never left.

She is who is always beside me.

Naïve, she knew nothing, nothing of what I was suffering at school, not even that she was only a phantom.

If I wanted to, I could make her "disappear" for a while, and for her, it would mean losing consciousness or falling into a trance.

I often "brought her home" too. But it seemed to my mother that I was communicating at home with someone who did not exist. She was afraid that I was schizophrenic, so she prescribed me Perphenazine, a psychotropic drug for schizophrenia. So, I never "brought her home" again, pretending that there was no problem.Shortly after that, we fell in love.

"Morning! "Emma greeted me with full of energy.

"Good morning."

Today is our date day. We only have one day off on weekends, so I want to spend as much time as possible with her.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

We hold hands together, and if someone could see her, they would think this is amazing - but it doesn't matter, as long as I feel it.

We walk up the mountain.

"By the way, it seems like... we have a day off the day after tomorrow," I remembered something and said.

"A day off? Why?""Because the police are investigating a recent serial killing case, and the suspect is said to be in our school. The police want to question nearby."

"Wow, that's scary."

"Yeah. But I heard that even the police haven't figured out the criminal's dominant hand, they only found a special material fabric at the scene, like our school uniform."

We keep walking up. Nowadays, Mount Jupiter is almost deserted, and the people who come are mostly heading to the newly built children's park.

I look around, and there are many rocks and dense trees on both sides. The path we are walking on has many forks, and some small buildings are on the side of the path, some of which are public toilets, and some are pavilions.

At this moment, a terrible thought flashed through my mind: if a murderer buried a body on this mountain, it might take years before anyone discovered it.

"Look, we can quickly get to our school from here!" Emma suddenly shouted.

"Oh, really." I looked at the fork on the side, and a stone staircase led directly to the back of our school.

From near to far, there were abandoned warehouses, our playground, teaching buildings, and finally the city.

"That's great... you can see the whole city from here!" Emma exclaimed. She loves the scenery of the city.We continue to walk up the mountain and see many abandoned entertainment facilities.

Further up, there is a 500-meter-long suspension bridge. After crossing the bridge, we arrive at the children's park.

We walk on the suspension bridge. As we walk, she looks around to see if there are any people and then secretly kisses my face."It's embarrassing if someone sees us~"

You don't have to hide, no one will see ya... I swallowed these words back.

But, I don't want to be seen blushing for no reason by passers-by either.

"Hey, walking like this is so boring... Hey, do you want to play a game, Kel?"

"What game?"

"Situation puzzle*!"

Situation puzzle... technically, it's a game that can't be played alone.But we're two people, right? After all, I don't know what she's thinking.

*Situation puzzle: A deductive game in which a puzzler presents an incomprehensible event, and the participants can ask any questions to try to narrow down the possibilities and uncover the truth behind the event. However, the puzzler can only answer with "yes," "no," or "irrelevant."

"Do you know the 'Chinese room'?"

"Well... it means that a person who doesn't understand Chinese is in a room that is completely closed except for a small window on the door. The person has a book with all the answers to Chinese questions, and on the other side of the small window is a Chinese person who can write notes and throw them into the room. The person who doesn't understand Chinese can answer the notes using the manual. For the Chinese person, the responses from the room are accurate. But for the person who doesn't understand Chinese, they are just drawing pictures from the manual and cannot understand the conversation... huh, are you trying to plagiarize the plot of Detective AI*?"

"Nah, nah, my original - Famous Dr. Goodman made a room for the 'Chinese room' experimentation, there was a small hole to the adjacent room in the room, and a man - who have no idea about the Chinese language - was in the room, and he was holding a book full of all the Chinese language problems in the world. In the adjacent room, another person - a Chinese person - was there. The Chinese could give a note to the non-done-know-Chinese man, the man could write the answer on the note as the book says and give the note back, but he didn't know the meaning of the note. When the experimentation ended, Dr. Goodman picked up the notes to make a study. However, the result of the study was totally wrong, why?"

"Eh...this way?"

"Oh, dear, have I taken ya down?"

"You ain't and never. Let me see, did that non-done-know-Chinese guy reply correctly?

""He did."

"Hmm..."I thought for a while - reply correctly, then what's incorrect?"Notes' problem?"

"Oui."

"Hey, wait, is this puzzle your own idea?"When I said that, I felt stupid, how could anyone else have talked to her?

Besides me, no one can talk to her unless they have superpowers.

"O-o-of course my own!"

"Well, it's quite...easy."

"Say, what - you made it?"

"I puff out my chest and say, "Of course! But let me confirm one last time: the note they studied last was a forgery, right?"

"...Yeah."I raise my right hand, extend my index finger, waved it in the air, "Heh heh, easy-peasy, simple goin'."

"Uh..."

"Here is it: The Chinese person knew some "secret" about Dr. Goodman, and they found a way to blackmail him - write blackmailing quotes on the note. They knew that Dr. Goodman would pick up the notes. Then, Dr. Goodman saw the notes. He cannot show the note to the public. So, he faked them, then the result got wrong."

I didn't see what was behind this time of the game at all - no, I couldn't, could I?

...you trying to plagiarize the plot of Detective AI: A light novel, Detective AI by Yabusaka Hayasaka, have a plot about the "Chinese room".

On a bench, I held Emma tightly.

We were close together.

I love her, she's more important to me than anything in the world - even though she didn't actually exist.

I wouldn't let her see the darkness of the real world, I would always protect her innocence.

"Kel, I love you," she said to me.

Next day. A school day.

The bleak sunlight shone on the teaching building, the playground, and Mount Jupiter behind the school, like the light of an energy-saving lamp, filtering through the leaves of every tree and falling on the ground.

The blackboard had words like "Be careful" and "Just go home after school, don't linger."

On this ordinary day, someone threw my schoolbag out of the classroom.

The desk was also covered with vulgar and personal attack words.

Moreover, my classmates spread sex rumors about me.

And the culprit, who had natural curls, looked at me triumphantly.

"That's how ya getting away makes. Come to the warehouse behind the school after school. Don't worry, it will only be us two."

...What else could I do?

No one around me could protect me.

That's why I needed Emma to redeem me.

But I couldn't let Emma see me being bullied, I want to let her think the world is amazing -

...

......

.........

............

Please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go please let me go...

We were in the school's warehouse after class.

In the middle of the warehouse were some iron boxes. There were some circular saws and other tools that looked usable. There was a window on the wall to my right in front of me, and the golden sunlight was pouring into the warehouse, shining through the leaves of each tree outside.

"Little," Naturecurl said to me.

I didn't respond.

"Not answerin'? I gotta kick ya ass?"

"...I'm sorry, class monitor."

"I'll tell you what, last time you got away, but this time I'm bein' kind by calling you here alone."

"I'm sorry, class..."Suddenly, my left cheek was hit hard.

"I said you can talk?"

...What did I do wrong? Anyway, she just wanted to vent.

"Listen, I'm gonna take some pics o' ya."

...Pics?

"Nearby high, a big bro has...interest in ya. Wanna strip all on ya then I'm takin' pics, just go for it, okay?"

What the...

"Quickly come here!"

"No, wait -"She grabbed my collar.

"Listen, little - you dare to resist, more terrible thing!"

Why did I have to experience this? Why did I have to suffer such an injustice?!

"I know you were into that same-sex stuff back in junior high - now I'm gonna straighten you out, haha!"

Is it wrong for me to like a girl?! Is it wrong for me to love someone?! Do you only know biology and not humanities?!

My hatred gradually ignited and I began to resist.

"Wanna fight back?! Screw it! Damn, you ain't lame..." she shouted.

What gives you the right to play with people's lives like this?!

"And that one you were into, Sophmin Lynn, right? She-"

"Shut up!!!!!"

I yelled out as soon as the first love's name came to my ear.

At that moment, I pushed her with all my strength.

I saw the figure of Emma outside the window.

Emma, I miss you...

Wait, no, if I think that way-

"What just happened? Kel?"

I heard Emma's voice.

I didn't turn to look at her but instead looked at the class monitor who was gradually dying from hitting the corner of the box.

The golden sunlight was pouring into the warehouse, shining through the leaves of each tree outside.

Illusion. Unreal. That is what I was feeling my life was like.

There must be something wrong with me, must be something wrong with the world, no way -

"Is she dead, Kel?"

She didn't have movement at all.

She dead.

The bully of me, died, out of this world.Will I be arrested? Will I be convicted?

"Tell me what happened, Kel?!"

"I...killed her...an...accident."A few words were forced out of my throat.

Ruined...The idea of letting Emma face the world naïvety...

"Why is it...? You will be arrested if we're letting it go..."

Emma took a few steps forward, muttering "Can't let it be" and squatted in front of the corpse, saying the sentence that made me shudder for the rest of my life.

"Kel. Let's hide her, together."

She was staring at me with her watery eyes.