During a regular practice session for her beloved music circle, "Wonderlands×Showtime," AIchin HIBIYA feels a strange pang of sadness. She thinks, "Maybe... they'd be better off without me?" It's a tiny, prickly feeling of being left behind while her friends shine brightly.
Noticing her gloom, a quirky upperclassman from her school, Arata JOZAKI, calls out to her. Arata is a brilliant hacker with an obsession for the "Sekai" system. He has a secret—he can access "Minor Sekai," unstable worlds b
In a Corner of Sekai, You Wait for the Stars - The first cry of "it's better if I'm not here"
Saturday afternoon.
In Studio B of the Phoenix Hall community center, a five-minute walk from the south exit of Kamihara Station, the light sound of a piano echoed as usual.
"Let's make that harmony really resonate, okay!"
A voice bursting with energy rang out.
It was a practice session for the circle "Wonderlands×Showtime." With the Stella Fest coming up in November, everyone's excitement was higher than usual.
Hibiya Aichin sat curled up in a corner of the studio.
Her black hair was cut in a bob that brushed her shoulders. She fiddled with her bangs, twirling them around and around her finger. The other five members—especially Misaki, who had been given a solo part today—were practically sparkling.
"Aichin, the next chorus, you come in right here!"
"Ah, okay..."
Her voice wouldn't come out.
The back of her throat tightened, and the sound she tried to make dissolved into the air. Misaki's singing was so confident, and compared to that, she was...
(*Huh... somehow, I...*)
A sharp pang struck her chest.
Everyone was laughing, having fun. Their harmonies were perfectly in sync. And yet, she felt like she was the only one slightly off-rhythm, and that gap seemed to grow wider and wider.
The sound of the piano felt terribly distant.
Her heart gave an unpleasant *thump*.
No. This isn't right.
Aichin hung her head.
Her teary brown eyes stared down at her feet. A white blouse with a crimson ribbon. A checkered skirt. Her small, delicate frame trembled as she desperately fought to hold it together.
Suddenly, a different scene surfaced in her mind.
—A fourth-grade classroom.
It was the day of a group presentation, and she had forgotten her lines in front of the entire class. Her mind went completely blank, and the stares of thirty-seven classmates pierced into her. The air in the classroom was cold and heavy.
"That's enough."
She could still hear her homeroom teacher's voice.
On the way home that day, her mother had said,
"That must have been embarrassing for you."
She was wrong. It wasn't embarrassment. It was fear.
Right now, the air in this studio overlapped with that classroom from back then.
"Aichin? Are you okay?"
It was a gentle voice.
But that gentleness hurt right now. The fact that someone asked if she was okay meant that she really was strange. That she stood out.
Her chest tightened painfully, and she felt like she might throw up.
"...Bathroom, just a minute."
With just those words, she fled from the studio.
She gulped down the cold air of the hallway.
Her heart was pounding, and her hands were shaking.
(*Why am I... like this...*)
She leaned against the wall, almost crouching down. But if someone saw her, they'd ask "Are you okay?" again. She didn't want that.
She hid the tears threatening to spill behind her bangs.
— — —
Practice ended.
"Great work, everyone! That was fun again today!"
"Great work!"
Aichin put on a proper smile and waved.
She was used to making smiles by now. Just lift the corners of her mouth a little, and narrow her eyes slightly. It was easy.
But inside, her heart was a mess.
She left Phoenix Hall alone and started walking.
Her destination was Kamihara Central Park.
It was a large park, about an eight-minute walk from the north exit of the station. There was a fountain plaza, a promenade, and a small pond. At night there weren't many people, but now, in the early evening, there were scattered families and couples.
She sat down on a bench in front of the fountain.
She took out her smartphone. The circle's group chat was filled with a long line of cheerful-looking stickers. Everyone was laughing at a cat sticker Misaki had sent.
Fun.
It really did look fun.
(*Maybe... it would be better if I wasn't here.*)
She didn't say it aloud.
The words she merely muttered in her heart sank to the bottom of her chest like cold mud. Even if she wasn't there, surely no one would be troubled. In fact, maybe everyone would do better without her.
The setting sun dyed the park orange.
Aichin looked up at the clock tower at the eastern edge. It was an old brick tower, twelve meters high. In this town, there was an urban legend that said, "If the clock tower's shadow looks doubled in the evening, a gateway to another world is open."
Of course, that was just a rumor.
She stood up from the bench, about to head home, when—
—*Crackle.*
The air made a sound like static electricity.
"...Huh?"
Her vision warped.
The shadow of the clock tower in front of her—looked doubled, blurred.
*Thump.*
Her heart gave a huge leap.
A tingling sensation, as if some invisible force was right beside her. A sickening feeling, as if the world had stopped being real for just a moment.
But it was over in just two or three seconds.
The distortion vanished.
The air returned to normal.
"What... was that just now...?"
She looked around, but nothing had changed.
Families were laughing. Couples were walking. Pigeons were pecking at the ground. It was the usual evening park.
Except, at the base of a roadside tree near the clock tower, she thought she caught a glimpse of a small crack-like trace of light. But it disappeared immediately.
"...Just my imagination, right."
Feeling vaguely frightened, Aichin hurried out of the park.
— — —
At the same time.
On the rooftop of Tonogi High School.
In a place that was supposed to be locked, there was a single male student.
Jozaki Arata.
His unruly silver hair was tied back casually, and his long bangs hid his left eye. The visible right eye was a deep blue, looking bored. He usually had a sleepy expression, but right now, it was a little different.
In his hands was a rugged, modified tablet.
"...Huh?"
His right eye, fixed on the screen, widened slightly.
The tablet displayed a simplified map of Kamihara City. Several small points of light—most of them were gates to minor Sekai that Arata had already registered.
And now, a new point of light had appeared.
The location was Kamihara Central Park.
The point of light was very small, looking like it might vanish at any moment. Unstable, a faint reaction that no one would notice.
"...Found one."
Arata's mouth moved just a little.
This was a minor Sekai.
A world born from small emotions, unnoticed by anyone, invisible to anyone. Most of the time, even the owner didn't realize they had a Sekai, and they often disappeared quickly.
But—
Arata stared intently at the tablet screen.
This reaction wasn't just his imagination. The results of the code reading showed that.
"Don't know who it is, but..."
Arata looked up at the sky. The sunset was sinking beyond the buildings.
"This is getting a little interesting."
The wind blew, swaying Arata's long silver hair.
He closed the tablet.
The view from the rooftop was the same as always. A residential area spread out, and in the distance, he could see the Phoenix Hall building.
But something had begun to stir, just a little.
Hibiya Aichin didn't know yet.
That her feeling of "it would be better if I wasn't here" had quietly uttered its first cry on the other side of the world.
And that the eccentric who had noticed it was already making his move.
The twilight in Kamihara slowly dyed into night, just like it always did.
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.