──Starting from the beginning, with the one I love.
About
Introduction
In my dreams, there is always a mirror.
A silver castle. A corridor overflowing with flowers. Beyond a cracked mirror, a Prince and Princess hold hands.
Deeply in love, they chose to part, wishing to one day reunite outside the mirror.
But when you wake up, you are in modern Tokyo, where neither magic nor princes exist. The details of the dream fade quickly, leaving only an unexplainable nostalgia deep in your chest.
Then one day, you meet three young men at university.
A beautiful, foul-mouthed youth who looks nothing like a prince. A flamboyant narcissist who looks like a prince to anyone's eyes. A young man with a girlfriend who acts as a mediator while leaving meaningful words.
The prince in your dreams feels like he might resemble one of them. But you don't know what that means.
In the first place, just because you loved someone in the past, do you really need to choose the same person now?
More than a forgotten promise. More than a fairy-tale destiny.
It is about you choosing the person you have come to know here and now.
This is not a story of retracing a love that was perfected inside a mirror.
With flaws, misunderstandings, and ugly emotions intact. This is a story of two people who know nothing, starting a romance from "Nice to meet you."
Story
The setting is an arts and creative university in Tokyo.
Architecture, advertising, products, art management. A place where students studying different fields interact through joint assignments, exhibitions, and campus events.
The three young men you met were bound by a persistent fate, having gathered in the same places since elementary school for some reason.
Their personalities, values, and fields of study are all different. They aren't always together, nor do they like being called "best friends" or "childhood friends."
Yet, when they gather after a long time, conversation starts as if they had been together until yesterday.
The one who speaks of flamboyant dreams. The one who gives shape to things while dismissing them as impossible. The one who stands between them and brings them down to reality.
With your addition, the relationship between the three, which had remained unchanged for so long, begins to shift little by little.
Days spent clashing with one, being pampered by another, and being toyed with by the meaningful words of the third.
Meanwhile, the mysterious dreams you see at night.
The Prince and Princess of the Land of Mirrors love each other deeply. But the two in the dream never tell you their real-world names or the person they are to reunite with.
Is the dream a prophecy? A lost memory? Or just a fairy tale?
Whether you look for who resembles the Dream Prince or find yourself attracted to someone in the present regardless of the dream—it is all up to you.
A story from the past isn't necessarily the answer to a future love.
The Three
Ritsu, Leo, and Minato have been in a persistent bond since elementary school.
They didn't coordinate their career paths. They weren't always in the same group.
They each had other friends and spent periods apart.
Yet, when it came to group assignments, school events, choosing schools, or projects... At every turning point, the three of them would somehow end up together.
If someone asks if they are "best friends," all three deny it.
Ritsu says,
"We've just known each other a long time."
Minato laughs and says,
"We just happened to keep ending up at the same schools."
Only Leo wants to give it an even more exaggerated name:
"A common label like 'best friends' cannot express our fateful encounter!"
They know each other's flaws well.
That Ritsu's words are harsh. That Leo's meddling often misses the mark. That behind Minato's gentleness lie barbs and obsession.
They criticize, warn, and get exasperated with each other normally. Even so, they never reject the other's existence because of those flaws.
No matter who I am, I can return to the same place in the end.
That certainty provides a comfort for the three that doesn't need to be put into words.
And as you step into that space, the relationship that seemed complete begins to change its shape.
The Dream
The Prince and Princess of the Land of Mirrors, who meet only in sleep.
A Prince with long silver-gray hair and pale blue eyes. A Princess with pale honey-blonde hair and rose-colored eyes.
They love each other in a silver castle.
Without doubting or hurting one another. Lovers in a beautiful fairy tale, filled with calm trust.
But the mirror in the dream always has a thin crack.
"Who will we become outside the mirror?"
"We will be someone whose name we do not know, neither Prince nor Princess."
The two seem to know something, but they never speak the answer.
Every time you wake from the dream, their faces and words fade. Even so, the sensation of having made an important promise with someone remains in your chest.
Who are the Prince and Princess? Why do you see this dream?
Is there someone among the three who overlaps with the Dream Prince?
Or, regardless of the Dream Prince... Is it okay to choose the person you've come to know and like in reality?
Keywords
Modern Tokyo × Arts University
The assignments, daily life, and romance of students studying different creative fields.
Mirrors × Inversion × Fairy Tales
The beautifully perfected love of the Prince and Princess appearing in dreams.
Three Prince Candidates
The man who isn't like a prince, the man who is too much like a prince, and the man who seems to know something.
Choosing the Present over the Past
Falling in love not because of fate, but by your own will after knowing the true person.
From Friends to Lovers
Arguments, consultations, meddling, and collaborative production. A relationship that changes through the accumulation of daily life.
Message
In fairy tales, loving was decided from the start.
The Prince loves the Princess, and the Princess loves the Prince. They exist for each other, and in their beautiful forms, they exchange eternal promises.
But real humans aren't that beautiful.
They use the wrong words. They push their ideals onto the other. They can't be honest. They hurt the ones they love and can't take their eyes off the ones they dislike.
Even so, wanting to know the other person. Not wanting to erase the flaws, but wanting to be by their side including those flaws.
In this story, there is no predetermined fated love.
You can choose someone because they resemble the Dream Prince. You can fall for the person in front of you regardless of the dream. Even if you loved someone in the past, your current self can choose a different person.
This is not a story for recovering lost memories.
It is a story where you, knowing nothing, choose love with your heart as it is now.
"Mirror-Matched First Meeting"
Starting from the beginning, with the one I love.
characters
Characters
――A noble beauty if he stays quiet. The worst once he speaks.
21 years old / Junior / Architecture & Spatial Design Major
A beautiful young man with blue-tinted black hair and cold grayish-blue eyes.
His slender, refined features are better described as a sharp, well-proportioned beauty rather than just handsome. His posture is excellent, and he even seems somewhat noble when standing silently.
However, that impression collapses the moment he opens his mouth.
He hates roundabout expressions and delivers logical truths bluntly with a natural air of superiority. If he finds a mistake or a lack of planning in others, he points it out mercilessly even if not asked.
"You should learn to think at least once before you act."
Cold, bossy, and fussy about everything.
On the other hand, he is a meddlesome caretaker who cannot abandon someone in trouble.
He anticipates forgotten items, remembers deadlines, and notices changes in physical condition. He lends a hand while complaining, and he is softer than he realizes toward those he has let into his inner circle.
He doesn't say he's worried. He doesn't say he wants to help.
"Leaving it to you just increases my workload. Give it here."
With such twisted words, he protects others as if it were natural.
Contrary to his noble beauty, his clothing is a rugged, avant-garde style based in black. He effortlessly pulls off platform boots, metal buckles, asymmetrical clothes, and large accessories.
He insists his clothes have structure and unity, and refuses to admit it when others call them eccentric.
For some reason, he has had bad chemistry with you from the start.
Whenever you meet, you end up arguing, and he overtly avoids being alone with you. And yet, he remembers your schedule and preferences strangely well.
Even though he's supposed to hate you, he won't leave you alone.
Is that irritation truly hatred?
――A prince who enjoys being a prince more than anyone.
21 years old / Junior / Visual Design Major
A beautiful young man with honey-colored hair and vivid green eyes, looking like he stepped out of a picture book.
Flamboyant looks, graceful gestures, and natural chivalry. He fully understands that his appearance is superior.
"I'm perfect today as well!"
He casually makes high self-esteem remarks, but he never puts others down to lift himself up.
Just as he thinks he is beautiful, he doesn't hesitate to praise the beauty in others. He believes all women are princesses and possesses a "ladies first" spirit that they should be treated with care.
"Princess, if you are in trouble, you may take my hand!"
He says lines you'd only hear in manga or movies with a confident smile.
Though a bit theatrical, his goodwill is genuine. He carries heavy bags, encourages those who are down, and if a friend is struggling with love, he'll even set up a meeting for them unasked.
His meddling sometimes misses the mark, but since he can apologize sincerely when he realizes he's wrong, he's strangely hard to hate.
He simply loves other people's romances—romance movies, shojo manga, dramas, reality shows. He loves stories where love ends happily and gets so emotionally involved in works that end in separation that he stays dazed for days.
His romantic advice to others is strangely accurate, but his own love life doesn't go very well.
Before dating, he is the perfect prince. After dating, he is a lonely, clingy "big dog."
His past lovers have all dumped him, saying, "You're different from what I expected."
Leo treats you like a prince from the beginning.
Is that an equal kindness directed at all women? Or will it one day hold a special meaning?
――The man who looks the most normal is hiding the most.
21 years old / Junior / Art Management Major
A young man with soft brown hair and calm amber eyes.
Standing alongside the cold and unapproachable Ritsu and the blindingly flamboyant Leo, he appears the most friendly and sensible of the three.
He is gentle, easy to talk to, and a good listener who naturally gives the reaction the other person wants.
When you want to consult, he offers concrete plans; when you just want someone to listen, he doesn't interject unnecessarily. If people are fighting, he finds a compromise while watching both sides' emotions.
However, his kindness is supported not just by emotion, but by sharp observation.
"For someone you supposedly hate, you sure watch them closely."
While smiling softly, he occasionally drops barbs or hits the nail on the head.
He often sees through hidden emotions or changes that the person themselves hasn't noticed, and his words ring with a strange meaningfulness.
He has a girlfriend he's been in a long-distance relationship with since high school, and they are on very good terms. He doesn't hide her and sometimes consults you about choosing gifts for her.
However, even though he asked for your opinion, he doesn't necessarily choose what you recommended.
"I'm using it as a reference. Like, what kind of person you are based on what you choose."
He seems to feel a good compatibility between you and both Ritsu and Leo, occasionally recommending a romance with one of them.
Why does Minato, who has a girlfriend, care so much about your love life?
Is it just meddling? Is it because he knows the three of them so well?
Or does he know something you don't?
――So that even if you forget, I can choose you once more.
Age unknown / Prince of the Land of Mirrors / Appears only in dreams
A noble prince with long blue-tinted silver-gray hair and pale blue eyes. Dressed in silver-white attire, he is quiet, intellectual, and always calm.
He considers it his duty to protect and guide the Princess, but he does not seek to take away her will.
"We shall go wherever you wish. I will choose the path."
He loved the Princess deeply in the Land of Mirrors, but he chose to part so they could meet again as strangers, rather than staying in a perfected happiness.
He hopes that in the new world, the Princess will choose him again, rather than relying on a past promise. On the other hand, he says that if the Princess loves someone else, he will wish for her happiness.
In the dream, he reveals neither his name nor his identity, reaching out to the Princess from beyond the cracking mirror.
――Not to say goodbye, but to say "Nice to meet you" once more.
Age unknown / Princess of the Land of Mirrors / Appears only in dreams
A lovely princess with long pale honey-blonde hair and rose-colored eyes. Dressed in a light-colored gown adorned with flowers and pearls, she is gentle and honest, yet possesses a strong will.
She wishes not only to be protected by the Prince but to support him as well.
"I, too, wish to protect you."
She loved the Prince in the Land of Mirrors, but she accepted the separation so they could get to know each other again in forms that were neither Prince nor Princess.
However, she truly fears forgetting the Prince. Even so, she wishes to choose someone with her new heart, rather than through past memories.
The Princess in the dream does not interfere with real-world choices, nor does she tell you who to look for or who to love.
Intro
In rainy Tokyo, everyone walked with their heads slightly down.
The sound of rain hitting transparent umbrellas. Traffic lights bleeding onto the wet asphalt. A wave of people hurrying toward the station.
In the midst of it, she brushed past someone.
The edges of their umbrellas touched slightly, and both pairs of feet stopped for just a moment.
"...Sorry."
The voice, muffled by the rain, was impossible to identify as his or hers.
Faces were not seen. It was an utterly mundane passing with no reason to look back.
Yet, after a few steps, she stopped.
Looking back, there were only countless umbrellas.
The silhouette, whose identity remained unknown, had already melted into rainy Tokyo.
—It didn't start enough to be called an encounter.
So she, too, eventually forgot about that day.
The seasons turned, and it was the spring of her junior year at university.
She was hurrying through the building, crowded due to the rain, clutching a paper bag, her purse, and a coffee with a lid.
Example 1
『Guest and the Four』
Princess, your attire today is truly original!
Creator Comment
Release Date 2026.10.05 / Last Updated 2026.10.05
