19
Dreams. Dreams. Dreams.
Dreams are meant to end.
Even Cinderella’s magic wore off when the clock struck twelve.
The girl who had been transformed into a beautiful princess by a fairy godmother returned to her plain, ordinary self when she got home, and her family continued to mistreat her.
But in the end, the prince came to her rescue, and Cinderella found happiness.
It’s true that the prince found her because of the glass slipper, but it was her own strength that motivated him.
After all, in the story, the fairy godmother didn’t cast a spell on the prince.
The magic may have been the catalyst, but I think the reason Cinderella was able to end up with the prince was because she was a girl overflowing with charm.
…So what if a girl with no charm happened to have magic cast upon her?
What would a girl who couldn’t break the spell cast on her by the wizard do if she were to run away from the prince――――
“…chan. Mio-chan”
While I was deep in thought, I was suddenly called out to in a loud voice.
I looked in the direction of the voice, and there I saw several boys and girls.
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Seeing them, ‘I’ immediately switched gears.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about something”
“Oh, is that right? Did I interrupt you?”
The first to speak was Kijima-san.
She’s always the first to do this, so ‘I’ responded in my usual way.
“No, it’s fine. What is it?”
“I thought I’d come talk to you again. Is that okay?”
She asked for confirmation, but there was no way I could refuse.
Her eyes never smile, after all.
If I were to refuse her here and now, she would surely direct the brunt of her anger at me.
“Yeah, it’s fine. No problem.”
“Okay, then—“
And so, the conversation began.
My conversation with Kijima-san gradually expanded to include her followers and a couple of class clowns, and the atmosphere quickly grew lively and boisterous.
“Ahahahaha. Is that so!”
I participated in the conversation, but I couldn’t help but observe it all with a somewhat cold gaze.
–What am I doing?
I couldn’t shake that feeling.
The beginning of all this must have been about a month ago.
The quiz show that I participated in. I was too embarrassed to watch it myself, but I learned from a call from Kou-kun that it had aired without incident.
That meant that Kou-kun had seen my transformed appearance.
Too embarrassed to bring it up myself, I had been waiting for Kou-kun to react…
(N-no way, that’s impossible…)
When he actually said it out loud, I couldn’t bear it.
If I were to ask him what he thought of ‘that me’, I felt like I wouldn’t know who I was anymore.
That’s why I didn’t want to hear his impressions then, and I tried to brush it off, but the sound of the incoming call was a godsend in a way.
Thinking optimistically that this would give me a good excuse to put some distance between us, I hung up the phone, but
I would soon come to learn.
“Hello, hello…”
“Oh, thank goodness. I got through.”
When I answered the phone, I heard a sickeningly sweet, breathy voice.
I was taken aback by the unfamiliar voice, but it continued talking as if I knew who it was.
“Do you remember me? It’s Kijima, Sae Kijima. I’m in the same class as Misaka-chan”
The name Kijima rang a bell.
No, girls should know about her. She was a girl who was like a leader in the class, and I didn’t hear very good rumors about her.
I even heard a rumor that she bullied someone in her second year of junior high school and drove them to stop coming to school, so I tried to stay away from her as much as possible.
Why is such a person like Kijima-san calling me――
“I was watching TV just now. Isn’t that Misaka-chan who’s appearing?”
“Huh…?”
I definitely felt a chill run down my spine at that moment.
“I don’t get the quiz at all, but you were good at it, huh? That’s amazing.”
“Ha ha, thanks…”
I nodded without thinking, and then I heard a chuckle from the other end.
“Ah, so it is you. I’m glad I guessed right.”
I had been tricked.
It was already too late when I realized that.
Any option other than admitting it had been lightly shaved away.
“…Yes, it is me, but that…”
“Oh, and by the way. Misaka-chan is amazing. You’re so cute. I didn’t know.”
“…Huh”
What is it? I don’t really understand what she’s trying to say.
“And so. Tomorrow, in this outfit… Oh, just the contacts will be fine. Bring them. I’ll do the rest.”
“Huh? What are you…”
I really didn’t understand what she was saying.
Once again, she laughed on the other end of the phone.
“Is it called producing? I wanted to try it once. To dress someone up myself and have a good time?”
That laughter sounded to me like the mockery of an evil witch, not a sorceress.
“You’re not going to say no, are you?”