This is not the date I wanted.

Mio tilted her head in confusion.

"Well... it's rude to keep staring at women... or something like that..."

The boy said awkwardly. He remembered that when he was in school, a classmate kept staring at a girl, and the girl yelled "disgusting" with disgust on her face. That scene left a deep impression on him.

"No. And the dictionary says 'cute' is a positive word, so that should be a compliment to me, right? Why should I be angry?"

Mio shook her head and asked in disbelief.

“…Huh, hahaha. That’s indeed the case.”

Hearing this, the boy was stunned for a while, and then he couldn't help but laugh dryly.

Although she has learned the language and has a certain degree of common sense, it has only been two weeks since Mio woke up, and her understanding of knowledge and language is only at the literal level, and it is difficult to understand the real feeling.

Maybe he was just being too hasty. After thinking through all the issues, the boy adjusted his mood and continued to take Mio to visit the city.

Mio is not an ordinary human. Not only that, she is not even a living being born through normal means.

——"Elf." According to Mio, in the boy's cognition, this is the most suitable description of Mio's existence.

Extraordinary life created with the help of a technique called magic or spell.

Although it was beyond common sense, neither Mana nor the boy was too surprised to hear it. On the one hand, they had already seen Mio's extraordinary power, and another reason might be that he and his sister, deep down in their hearts, still had some yearning for the existence of supernatural powers in the world.

"what is that?"

"Ok?"

Looking in the direction of Mio's finger, the boy saw that at the entrance of the game hall, there was a row of mechanical alleys playing loud music, and in large glass boxes, various toy dolls were piled up.

"Ah, that's a claw machine. There's a mechanical arm on top of the box, right? You operate it from the outside to grab the dolls inside."

"Hum... I see. That's really interesting."

After listening to the boy's introduction, Mio nodded as if she understood, then walked to the claw machine and stared at the dolls in the box.

Do you want that doll? Looking at the object Mio was pointing at, the boy took out a coin from his wallet.

"Shall I pick it out for you?"

"……Eh?"

Hearing this, Mio raised her head, her expression seeming to express her surprise and astonishment.

The boy smiled bitterly at her expression, put the coins into the machine, and began to operate the joystick following the prompts.

Just like that, the boy used his excellent operating skills to hit the target with just a coin... Unfortunately, this development like the protagonist of the comic book did not happen to him.

(Damn… the grip of this mechanical arm is too weak, isn’t it? Has it been tampered with?)

With his brows tightly locked together, the boy looked at the mechanical arm with eyes full of resentment.

But complaints aside, this development was not surprising. The boy had never played this kind of claw machine before, and his knowledge of it was only from hearing about it and seeing others playing it. It was naturally impossible for him to succeed right away.

The reason he did this was simply to look cool in front of Mio.

(What should I do next?)

To be honest, the boy couldn't help feeling embarrassed. Although the change in his wallet was enough for him to try again, if he failed this time as well, he would not only lose all his pocket money, but also lose face.

(No, it’s okay. I’m sure it will work this time…)

While comforting himself, the boy took out the last change from his wallet. Although he knew that he had fallen into a gambler's mentality, he was unwilling to give up. This was probably what it felt like to be in a difficult situation.

Just as the boy was trembling and preparing to put the coin into the machine, Mio suddenly stretched out her hands and gently held his palms.

"It's okay." Mio said gently but confidently, "Don't put extra pressure on yourself, relax. Don't treat your previous mistakes as a burden, but accept them as an experience. I believe you can do it."

"…Mio?"

The boy couldn't help showing a hint of surprise on his face.

“That’s what it says in a book.”

“Did you copy it exactly?!”

The boy couldn't help but complain.

"Did I say something wrong?"

“…No, that’s exactly right.”

The boy smiled bitterly and shook his head. Although the money he spent was indeed painful, it was not a particularly serious matter. Even if he failed, it did not mean that Mio would be disappointed in him. What he was entangled with was just a little bit of boring self-esteem as a man.

"……call."

The boy took a long, deep breath, relaxed his shoulders, closed his eyes and recalled the dozen or so failures he had experienced.

Indeed, as Mio said, every failure is a kind of experience. The strength of the robot arm, the position of the doll - what is the reason for failure? What needs to be corrected? If you don't understand these, no matter how many times you repeat it, you will just repeat the same mistakes.

All that was left was to stay calm and not get nervous and make mistakes. Thinking of this, the boy slowly opened his eyes.

After dropping a coin and gripping the remote control stick, the boy stared at the robotic arm and after making sure it had moved to the position he wanted, he pressed the button hard.

Just like that, the hook of the robotic arm with the puppet hanging on it slowly rose up and moved slowly under the boy's nervous gaze.

——Plop! Finally, the suspended doll did not fall off midway like before, but fell smoothly into the exit.

“It’s done! How’s it going? Now you know how powerful I am!!”

The boy couldn't help but clench his fists and shout.

"Well, that's great."

Mio was also clapping happily on the side.

To be honest, if you look at the price alone, the money the boy invested is enough for him to buy a puppet that is several times larger. But he didn't feel at a disadvantage at all. The victory he got after more than a dozen failures brought him a much more satisfying sense of accomplishment than he had imagined.

As if surprised by the boy's volume, the guests in the arcade and the passers-by on the road looked at the boy in surprise, and then left with an expression of "It's great to be young".

"..."

When his head cooled down, the boy, overwhelmed with shame, felt his cheeks suddenly heat up, and quickly took out the bear doll. "Here, here you go. Take it, Mio."

"Eh? Isn't this what you got? Why, do you want to give it to me?"

Seeing the puppet handed over by the boy, Mio looked a little confused. This made the boy stunned.

"Uh--were you not staring at the doll?"

Mio couldn't help but tilt her head.

"Hmm... is that so? I was just wondering how this machine works."

"..."

The boy was speechless with his mouth open. Now that he thought about it, Mio had never said she wanted this doll from the beginning. It was just his wishful thinking and misunderstanding.

In an instant, the boy's face, which was originally hot, became as red as a traffic light.

"A-Anyway! This thing is for you!"

Having said that, the boy stuffed the teddy bear doll into Mio's arms in a self-abandoned manner.

"...? Is it for me?"

After a little while, Mio finally reacted, looking a little overwhelmed.

"Ah! That's right! I saw you staring at it so intently, and I thought you must like this kind of doll!"

After saying that, the boy felt a little shocked by his own pretentiousness and turned his back to Mio in embarrassment.

"Do you like it...?"

After hearing these two words, Mio lowered her head and stared silently at the puppet in her hand.

"Like...feeling fond of someone...having a strong interest in that person...that's it. ...Yes, it must be 'like'. Expressing gratitude to you, showing thanks...no, it should be..."

Mio whispered as if reciting a dictionary, sorted out her thoughts, and took a long, deep breath.

"True man."

When the boy, Shinji Takamiya, heard Mio calling his name, he turned around subconsciously.

For a moment, Shinji was speechless.

Mio was seen hugging the teddy bear doll he gave her tightly to her chest, with a slightly red face and a sweet smile on her face.

Then, he said it in a somewhat clumsy but extremely happy tone.

"——Thank you. I'm glad. I like you."

He felt as if his heart had been shot through. The surrounding scenery gradually became blurry, but Mio's figure became clearer and clearer in his eyes, as if it was engraved in his mind.

How despicable. Shinji couldn't help but think to himself. He knew Mio's choice of words was a little wrong, but he couldn't help but feel excited.

This is a very common phenomenon at this age. Faced with the dull and unchanging daily life, young people always doubt life and fantasize about an epic that is different from reality.

Boy meet Girl - If it's like a light novel, a story where he meets a beautiful girl, falls in love, and saves the world while they're dating.

Fortunately or unfortunately, just when Shinshi was ready to accept reality, Mio appeared, met him, got to know him, and became a family.

Then, like a moth to a flame, Tohka Shinji fell hopelessly in love with Tohka Mio.

"I……"

Just as Shinji was about to open his mouth to respond, something strange happened.

The vast blue sky, the towering buildings, the busy streets, and the beautiful woman in front of me. Everything was like collapsing building blocks, breaking into pieces.

"Wa ...

Looking at the space that suddenly turned into nothingness, Shidou looked around at a loss.

Somehow, he had been freed from the identity of "Shinshi Takamiya", but he did not wake up from the dream like before.

--no.

The weird thing is that even though Shidou didn't say anything, his voice was echoing in this space without permission.

——In your heart, there is another person. You are not me, nor are you Takamiya Shinshi.

--Who are you?

Takamiya Shinji? Hearing this, Shidou instinctively felt a sense of rejection and resistance, and answered without thinking.

"Of course, I'm Gokawa Shido, not Somiya Shinshi!"

--Yeah……

Hearing Shidou's answer, Shinshi's voice took on a chill.

"Well--"

Instantly, a heavy pressure came from behind, forcing Shidou to fall downwards.

Perhaps because this was a dream, an endless ocean suddenly appeared out of nowhere below him.

(Oh no…I can’t breathe…)

It felt like someone was grabbing his head and pushing him into the water. Shidao waved his arms and legs desperately to float up, but he still sank helplessly.

——This is the world of Shinshi and Mio, memories that belong only to these two people.

——If you are not 'me', then get out of here.

……

“——Poof!”

Shidou suddenly turned over from the bed, breathing heavily as if he was really about to drown and suffocate.

“W-What the hell——what did you just say…”

Shidao muttered to himself in disbelief. It was clearly his own memory, but he was scolded by the "self" in his memory and kicked out of the dream. To be honest, this feeling is more terrifying than seeing a ghost.

"Shidou! Are you okay?"

As if hearing a noise in the room, Tohka opened the door and walked in with a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong Shidou? Is this an enemy attack?"

Protecting Shidou behind her, Tohka asked while looking around vigilantly.

"No, it's okay Tohka. I just...had a weird dream."

After taking a deep breath, Shidou said with a wry smile.