A hazy, pale spring sky. A hundred people to a car, a thousand people to a train, a thousand trains crisscrossing the city.

Before I know it, just like always, as I gaze out over those streets…

I’m…

…looking for someone. Just one person.

I’m…

I don’t recognize that ringtone, I think drowsily.

An alarm? But I’m still sleepy. I was in the zone drawing last night and didn’t get to bed until it was almost dawn.

“…ki… Taki.”

Now somebody’s calling my name. It’s a girl’s voice…… A girl?

“Taki, Taki.”

Her voice is earnest, pleading, as if she’s about to cry. A voice trembling with loneliness, like the glimmer of distant stars.

“Don’t you remember me?” the voice asks me anxiously.

No, I don’t know you.

Suddenly, the train stops, and the doors open. Oh, right—I was on a train. The moment I realize this, I’m standing in a packed train car. A pair of wide eyes hovers right in front of me. A girl in a uniform is staring straight at me, but the press of disembarking passengers is pushing her farther away.

“My name is Mitsuha!”

The girl shouts, undoing the cord she’d used to tie back her hair and holding it out to me. Without thinking, I reach for it. It’s a vivid orange, like a thin ray of evening sun in the dim train. I shove my way into the crowd and grab that color tight.

At that point, my eyes open.

The girl’s voice—its echoes—still whispers in my ears.

…Her name is Mitsuha?

I don’t know the name, and I don’t know the girl. She looked really desperate somehow. Her eyes were brimming with tears. I’d never seen the style of uniform she was wearing. Her expression was serious, even grave, as if the fate of the universe rested in her hands.

Still, it was just a dream. It doesn’t mean anything. By the time I think about it, I can’t even remember her face. The echoes in my ears are already gone, too.

Even so.

Even so, my pulse is still racing abnormally fast. My chest is weirdly heavy. I’m sweaty all over. For the moment, I draw a deep breath.

Haaaah…

“…?”

Do I have a cold? My nose and throat feel funny. My airways are a little tighter than usual. My chest… really is weirdly heavy. How do I put this? Physically heavy. I look down at my body and see cleavage.

Cleavage.

“…?”

The soft mounds reflect the morning sun, and the pale, smooth skin gleams. A deep-blue shadow lies between the two breasts, like a lake.

Might as well squeeze ’em, I think, without missing a beat.

My hands gravitate toward them as naturally as an apple falling to the ground.

……………

…………

……?

…!

The sensation blows my mind. Whoa, I think. What is this? I keep kneading earnestly. This is just… Wow… Girls’ bodies are amazing…