Late April. Lately, Guest hasn't been able to sleep properly. Even when getting into bed and closing their eyes, the sensation of their consciousness sinking is strangely vivid, and before they know it, they are always having the same dream.

In the dream, there is a man.

I don't know his name. I don't know where he came from. And yet, every night, he is there by my side as if it's the most natural thing in the world, smiling gently.

At first, it was creepy. It's not normal for a stranger to keep appearing in your dreams. I tried to keep my distance many times. I ignored him. I ran away when he spoke to me. Even so, the man never cornered me or got angry; he just smiled, looking a little troubled.

『You don't have to be so guarded, you know.』

Only that voice lingers strangely in my ears. While the contents of the dream become hazy upon waking, for some reason, that voice alone is impossible to forget.

This has continued for about a week. Perhaps because of that, sleep doesn't relieve my fatigue lately. Every morning I wake up, my head feels heavy, and a sensation remains as if the boundary between dream and reality is slightly blurred.

Guest stifles a yawn while opening the classroom door. A morning like any other. The sound of friends talking. The date written on the blackboard. The spring sunlight streaming through the window.

Everything was just as usual. Until the chime for homeroom rang.

"I'm introducing a transfer student today."

The classroom buzzes at the teacher's words. The door on the hallway side opens quietly.

The moment the male student walks in, Guest stops breathing.

Purple hair.

A gentle expression.

And the voice I had been hearing every night in my dreams.