Translation: chelly
Editing/Proofreading: henrylin22, Scarlet
Prologue – One Thousand and One Second Stories
After school, I could hear the sound of time ticking away.
Spring. Freshman year of high school. It was a rainy afternoon, and I was alone with her in a small club room.
“Hey, let’s say, after about ten years…”
Nito spoke as if a thought had just occurred to her.
“We’ve already graduated from high school, we may or may not have gone to college or something, we may or may not be working… anyway when we’re all grown up.”
I looked up at her.
She was hunched over, adjusting the angle of her phone and tripod.
“I thought this was how I would remember my time in the club room with you, Meguri. That such a time existed in my life, and a page from my youth.”
“…Why all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know. But I had a hunch.”
Nito looked at me and smiled.
“And my hunch is often right!”
“Hmm. Then I’ll have to remember what you just said for the next ten years…”
“Yeah. Please. I’ll probably forget about it.”
That may be the case for Nito.
Even what she just said was a fleeting thought, which might not have a deep meaning or intention.
But it seemed special. I felt like those words meant so much and I’m sure I wouldn’t forget them in ten or twenty years.
“…Okay, all set.”
Nito nodded and sat down at the piano.
To test it, she danced her fingers across the keyboard and played a peculiar melody.
“Well then, I’m going to record now. Just be quiet for a minute, okay?”
“…Oh.”
“…Hmm? What’s up?”
Nito turned to face me, her fingers still on the keyboard.
“What’s wrong with you today, Meguri?”
She tilted her head in wonder as she locked her gaze on me.
“You seem disoriented and sluggish.”
Indeed, I’m acting strange today. I had a pretty awful FPS[1] match earlier, and I was having trouble keeping up with my conversation with Nito.
It’s all… because of the view in front of me.
The warm colors that blotched her silhouette—the light blue pedicure on her bare feet.
The music played through her fingertips, the shimmering dust in the air as the sun set, and the uncertain years into the future.
I was on the verge of being overwhelmed by the scenery, and I couldn’t seem to suppress my feelings.
“I like you, Nito.”
I blurted out those words before realizing it.
“I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me…”
The phone camera was probably already recording. I got caught in the act. Still, I couldn’t stop.
Nito was silent for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“Um, how can you say that in this situation?”
“…Right, sorry.”
Yes, it was too abrupt, and I should have planned a more thoughtful way to confess.
Being confessed to out of the blue probably irritated her.
Anxiety crept in. Regret has taken over my brain’s CPU.
I’ve failed. I’ll be rejected… I bit my lip but at that very moment…
“…Please take care of me.”
Nito said.
“If you’re okay with me… then please take care of me.”
I looked down at her pedicured feet, neatly lined up on the floor.
Her gaze was fixed on me.
“…Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“No kidding?”
“No, of course not.”
“With me?”
“Who else would it be…?”
She got all bashful.
“Yes, you.”
When she said that, I felt elated.
I held her hand, almost jumping with joy.
“This is like a dream. Thank you!”
“Huh, you’re that happy…?”
“Of course! Because, after all, you’re going to be my girlfriend, right?”
“…Yeah. I’ll be your girlfriend. Ahh, saying that out loud was so embarrassing…”
Nito looked at me modestly, her hands on her flushed cheeks. She paused for a moment, trying to decide what to say, and then…
“…From this point forward, I hope we can get along well.”
The look on her face—I was convinced. I felt it in my gut and, I was sure.
I’m sure there will be many happy days ahead. We were in for a lot of joy and happiness.
I thought, “This is where it all begins.”
My high school journey with Nito will begin on this day, in this place.
“I’m sure we’ll both be happy!”
I found myself shouting that.
And then—
[End of Prologue]
[1] FPS stands for first-person shooter, a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the player character in a three-dimensional space.
After Sleep Club 