Murakami Yuu jolted awake, his heart beating rapidly and fine sweat breaking out on his forehead.
He sat up and looked around, then after thinking for a moment, reached out to pinch his own face.
There was pain. The phone alarm he had set before going to sleep last night was also ringing.
A few rays of sunlight slipped through the gaps in the curtains, he could hear occasional car horns from the street, there was a half-drunk juice on the bedside table, and there was no sticky unpleasant feeling below.
Like a video upgrading from 480p to 1080p, everything he saw and felt suddenly became extremely clear.
The haziness and sense of emptiness were slowly receding, and his sense of control became increasingly crystal clear.
Murakami Yuu took a deep breath, picked up his phone to turn off the alarm, then lay back down straight on the bed.
Dreaming within a dream, huh...
What an unpleasant way to wake up.
His spirit relaxed, but his thoughts surged. Everything he had experienced in the dream just now was so clear that he could even recall every minute detail.
That sense of reality, as if he were actually there, made it impossible for him to continue treating it as a coincidence.
At the same time, he couldn't help but quietly question in his heart:
Was everything he had just experienced really what could be called a dream?
Murakami Yuu got up and went to the bathroom, staring at the mirror in front of him. The image reflected there was identical to what existed in reality.
Was it an unconscious replay from residual memories in the body, or was another independent consciousness coexisting with him?
His hands gripped the edges of the sink tiles, slowly applying pressure.
...
St. Chronia Academy, located in Minato Ward, Tokyo, was a young private school established only in recent years.
The entire campus occupied a vast area, and the facilities were relatively advanced.
Perhaps because many of the board members were foreigners, the school also had a large religious chapel that was not only open to students, but outsiders could also freely enter for prayer or confession after registering.
After washing up, Murakami Yuu still decided to come to school. This had been his original plan anyway. Although last night's dream was somewhat bizarre, it wasn't enough to make him panic to the point of disrupting his original plans.
After all, standing still would only waste time and wouldn't help with the things he cared about. Since that was the case, it was better to actively enter the original owner's living environment and interpersonal relationships—with luck, he might have some unexpected gains.
As Murakami Yuu walked from the school gate toward the academic building, he was caught up to and greeted by Iizuka Takeya, who happened to see him.
"Morning, Yuu."
"Morning."
"That not-very-energetic expression of yours... did things not go smoothly with Ogiso Setsuna after Reita and I left yesterday?"
Iizuka Takeya asked. Men's conversations always revolved around these topics.
"Judging from her reaction and light footsteps when leaving, it should have gone smoothly... yawn..."
Murakami Yuu covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he yawned.
Anyone who has had dreams knows that the next day you wake up with a faint sense of mental fatigue. Plus, he had taken the subway here this morning.
As everyone knows, Tokyo's subway passenger volume is very large—so large that it spawned the seemingly joke-like position of "subway pushers," who are specifically responsible for forcibly pushing people who can't squeeze onto the subway.
During the morning rush hour for work and school, Murakami Yuu was lucky enough to experience this service, his somewhat thin frame nearly suffocated in the sea of people.
Tomorrow he'd get up a bit earlier and take the bus. It was slower, but at least he could move around freely...
Murakami Yuu had already made up his mind.
"So, what level did you reach?"
Iizuka Takeya continued asking.
"Just normal conversation and joking around level. Nothing worth mentioning. Rather than me, how did you and Reita do at the mixer? Did you successfully build good relationships with those two girls whose names I forgot?"
"It's only been one day and you've already forgotten their names—that's too much."
Iizuka Takeya sighed.
"We all exchanged LINE contacts. I'm not particularly interested, but Reita seems to be chatting with them online quite well. You can ask him for specifics yourself."
"No need, I was just asking casually. It's not something I particularly want to know."
The two entered the academic building, changed into indoor shoes, and walked in opposite directions. The two of them, including Toritsuka Reita, were not in the same class.
Following the directions in his memory, Murakami Yuu went up the stairs to the second floor, opened a classroom door, and walked in.
There was still some time before the first class began, but most of the people in the classroom had already arrived.
On his way to his seat, two girls in a row said "good morning" to him with shy blushes. Although he didn't know the names of these two plain-looking classmates, polite responses were never wrong.
His seat was in the last position of the fourth row, not far behind were storage lockers, and to his side was a half-open transparent window with a slight breeze blowing in.
Although it was completely different from the high school he had experienced before, Murakami Yuu still felt incredibly nostalgic.
Groups of three or five chatting casually, complaining without restraint, male students copying homework, female students with hiked-up skirts—all of this, set against blackboards and desks and chairs, combined to create an atmosphere that wasn't quiet but was incredibly relaxing.
The feeling of revisiting old places was quite nice. Coming to school was the right decision.
Thinking this, Murakami Yuu loosened his slightly tight student tie and slowly leaned his upper body onto his desk. There was still a while before class started, and he wanted to rest his eyes for a bit to recover some energy.
He needed to make time for serious exercise. Having such weak physical fitness that he became so tired from just one subway ride was too pathetic—he was afraid even a girl from the athletics department could easily knock him down.
Just as he closed his eyes and let his thoughts wander, an inappropriate voice sounded beside him.
"Um, excuse me, Murakami-san?"
It was an obviously confused female voice.
Murakami Yuu opened his eyes and saw a silver-haired girl with a bob cut, wearing the same style Western uniform as him with a red ribbon, and a pleated skirt that barely reached her knees.
His gaze lingered on her refined face for a few seconds until her cheeks unnaturally reddened, and then Murakami Yuu remembered her name.
Anna Nishikinomiya, student council president, and also the class representative of this class.
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"Is there something you need, Nishikinomiya-san?"
Murakami Yuu asked.
"It's about the exercises the teachers assigned last week. I'm here to collect them."
Eh?
Murakami Yuu couldn't help but smile wryly. How could he remember any homework?
"Murakami-san?"
"Sorry, Nishikinomiya-san, I forgot to bring it."
The most common lame excuse.
"Ah, I understand. Well then, please continue resting."
Anna Nishikinomiya turned and walked back to her seat, holding a stack of exercise books, and walked out through the back door of the classroom.
He probably wouldn't get scolded, right? After all, they were already second-year students.
Murakami Yuu thought silently.
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