Chapter 3: Anjash Miscommunication Frequency

Maybe… right now, I’m the most evolved creature walking the earth.

…Because—I managed to say “good morning”!

This morning, I was skipping to school in a great mood (though my face was still stone-cold like a hitman’s).

And why, you ask? Well, obviously—it’s because I made a friend for the first time in this life!

Kishine-san. Kishine Rio-san.

She seems a bit timid, but that just makes her expression softer and really approachable—a sweet girl.

But that was only her surface persona.

Kishine-san, believe it or not, wants to join our Rooftop Mysterious Phenomena Society (unofficial, currently two members including her)!

With her cool sense of language and that wonderful mindset that wants to fly through the sky, she’ll be doing mysterious things with us up on the rooftop. Just the thought gets me hyped! (Though I’m not sure she’ll come every day—still, she can drop in whenever she wants!)

To have made friends with someone like that… maybe I’ve entered a lucky streak in life. If I hit up a pachinko parlor right now, I might just become a millionaire!

But it’s not just that we became friends.

…We even made a promise.

To go see the Angel’s Staircase together. Even I think it was an amazing invitation!

Normally, my mouth rebels and refuses to say anything, but yesterday, for once, I managed to get the words out—though not perfectly, I still said what I wanted to say. Well, not everything I wanted to say.

The part I failed at was explaining what the Angel’s Staircase actually is. It’s a real phenomenon, I swear!

I couldn’t explain it well, and I almost got mistaken for some weird, tinfoil-hat conspiracy nut instead of the mysterious girl I’m aiming to be (I was saved by Kishine-san’s ridiculously strong reading comprehension, just barely).

Angel’s Staircase—official name, crepuscular rays. Most people call it the “ladder to heaven,” even though it looks more like a staircase.

When the sky’s covered in clouds and sunlight streams through a gap—it fans out in rays like a spotlight.

It looked so mystical, I honestly felt like if I walked along it, I’d end up in another world or something.

I saw it once in my previous life. It was so beautiful it cracked the shell of my chunibyo-ridden heart.

Maybe I was even able to reincarnate thanks to that light!

So ever since then, I’ve wanted to see it again. While daydreaming, I kept waiting for a day like that to come.

But instead of seeing the Angel’s Staircase first, I ended up making a friend. Sixteen years into life (on my second run)—guess it pays to stick around!

Skipping in my heart, I reached the classroom.

I slid the door open—and there she was, sitting in the nearest seat, turning around to face me.

"O-oh, good morning, Shirogane-san."

She always greets me. More than that—she’s the one I became friends with yesterday—and today, she gave me a bright “good morning.”

Kishine-san, my first and only friend in this life.

And to her, I…

“Nn.”

…mumbled the usual curt grunt. Just “nn.” Even that made her look satisfied…

But my feet stopped in front of her desk.

…Because even though we’re friends now, I didn’t want to come off as cold.

“Shirogane…san?”

She looked up at me, puzzled. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, then finally—

“…Goo, morn…ing. Kishine.”

I squeezed it out. A totally normal “good morning.” I squeezed it… and I did it.

…I actually said it.

I managed to say “good morning” properly.

Until now, I was the kind of person who couldn’t even greet someone normally—but with a bit of effort, turns out I could do it after all!

“Eh? Shirogane-san, just now…”

Even Kishine-san’s eyes went wide in surprise at my astonishing evolution. Guess humans really can do anything if they try! (Even if I accidentally dropped the honorific!)

…Though the way I said it kinda makes it sound like I just couldn’t be bothered before. That’s not a great look.

“Ah.”

A weird feeling welled up inside me, and I quietly headed to my seat. I was happy I got the greeting out, but I also got a bit embarrassed, and I didn’t want Kishine-san to realize what a broken mess I am.

…She hasn’t figured it out, right? That I’m not actually a mysterious girl. Up until just yesterday, she thought I was a ghost, so I should be fine… right?

I started feeling kind of uneasy, so during class today, I kept sneaking glances at Kishine-san.

I’d stare just a little, then quickly look away. I repeated that over and over again, and sometimes, my eyes would meet with Kishine-san’s.

“?”

She’d look at me like, “What is it?” every time, and all I could do was avert my gaze. Even just shaking my head to say “it’s nothing” felt like it required some elite-level skill from my body.

I kept that up all day, but in the end, I had no idea if she noticed or not. The only thing I figured out was that Kishine-san only wears glasses during class.

Is her eyesight bad?

Could it be that the reason she thought I was a ghost was actually because of that?

Ugh… a surprise twist revealed.

So it wasn’t that my mysterious aura made her think I was a ghost.

That’s kind of frustrating.

I really thought I had the whole mysterious girl thing going.

At this rate, even if she hasn’t figured me out yet, someday she might stop seeing me as a mysterious beauty and start seeing me as some clumsy mess-up girl. T-That’s bad!

I-I have to do something to get Kishine-san to see me in a better light.

What can I do to make her think of me as a stoic, mysterious beauty?

I need to project that mysterious vibe—that unreadable, otherworldly feel.

—Would it help if I started talking about, like, life and death or something?

With my heart beating a little faster, I arrived at the classroom.

After everything that happened yesterday, I felt like maybe, just maybe, something might change.

Holding my breath, I waited for that moment.

She always arrives at the same time—five minutes before the warning bell. Like clockwork, the classroom door opened and she stepped in.

Shirogane-san. The girl who made a very important promise with me.

She said, in front of the angel’s stairway, “Let’s walk through the sky together.” And we promised it would all end beautifully.

A promise you can’t make with just anyone—one you can only make with one person. For me, that one person was Shirogane-san.

I never believed in impulsive double suicides or anything, but she almost made me think it could be real.

She wasn’t just a classmate, or even just a friend… if I had to describe it, “partner in crime” might be the closest thing.

“G-Good morning, Shirogane-san.”

I did my best not to let my voice shake as I greeted her—the girl who had become special to me yesterday, or was supposed to become special. Maybe, just maybe, I’d get a different reaction from her than usual… I let myself hope, just a little.

“Mm.”

But Shirogane-san responded the same as always, with that same short, almost reassuringly typical reply.

…It’s not like I mind.

Things don’t just change overnight.

It’s just… I’m a little lonely, that’s all.

I tried to convince myself of that when—Shirogane-san stopped in front of my desk.

“Shirogane-san?”

I looked up, and she wore that same completely blank, transparent expression. But then she started moving her mouth like she wanted to say something.

“…G-good… morning, Kishine.”

Barely a whisper, so soft no one else could hear it, Shirogane-san said just that, almost under her breath.

“Wait… Shirogane-san, just now…”

Did she say good morning?

That Shirogane-san?

I had been hoping for something, but still, I didn’t expect that. I stared straight at her face, trying to read it—only for her to quickly look away. And then...

"Ah."

She walked off toward her seat like nothing had happened, wrapped in that same transparent air she always had when she was in class.

...She really did talk to me just now, right?

It was just a moment, like a dream, but I don’t think it was a dream.

It felt like, just for an instant, the version of her from after the sunset peeked out, and that made me a little happy. Like a stray cat that doesn’t usually warm up to people had let down its guard just a bit.

"...Maybe she’s cuter than I thought."

Maybe she’s just not good at expressing emotion, but underneath that, there might be a kind of warmth. And she showed that side only to me.

I couldn’t help but feel just a tiny bit proud about that.

Then, I noticed something different—something that hadn’t happened before. It was during class.

“……”

Shirogane-san would glance over at me every now and then, staring blankly.

And when our eyes met, she’d quickly turn her face away.

That happened several times.

...Is she curious about the glasses?

Feeling a bit unsettled, I adjusted my slightly slipping black-rimmed glasses. My vision’s not great, so I only wear them during class. I think Shirogane-san must’ve noticed that today.

So that’s probably why she keeps looking—they caught her attention. At least, that’s what I tell myself… They’re kind of lame, so I don’t really like being seen in them.

That’s how the day passed, with the class content weirdly passing right through my head, not sticking at all.

And by the time homeroom ended, Shirogane-san had vanished from the classroom without me even noticing. I’d never really paid attention to it before, but maybe she always leaves like this.

Wanting to find her, I headed straight for the rooftop without hesitation.

There were so many things I wanted to ask. So many things I wanted to know.

Because I still don’t know anything about Shirogane-san.

With a soft metallic creak, I pushed the rooftop door open.

The sky was still blue, and the wind swept through as if blowing it right into my eyes.

"Kishine."

Sure enough, just as I expected, Shirogane-san was standing there.

...But something felt different.

She stood there, wrapped in an aura that reminded me of yesterday’s twilight—strange, mysterious.

“──Do you think people can be reborn?”

She spoke, saying something that sounded like she was worrying about our future.

With her usual unreadable expression… and just the faintest hint of sorrow behind it.