Using the restroom is such a difficult task.

"Sit down." Yukino Yukari pulled an empty chair from nearby and gestured for Hojo Kyosuke to take a seat.

"Thank you." Hojo Kyosuke scratched his head inwardly. He had originally intended not to cause any trouble for Miyamizu Mitsuha, so why was he summoned to the teacher's office during the very first period?

"Miyamizu-san, are you feeling unwell today?" Yukino Yukari asked softly.

"Just a little bit."

Hojo Kyosuke tried his best to put on an expression of discomfort, but having never been sick once in his life from childhood to the present, he simply had no idea how to fake being ill, resulting in an expression that looked rather awkward.

Yukino Yukari looked in bewilderment at the young girl sitting opposite her. What was she trying to convey with that expression?

Still, everyone was more or less abnormal to some extent anyway.

She recalled the file on this girl named Miyamizu Mitsuha: her mother had passed away, her father had left home, and she lived with her younger sister, being raised solely by her grandmother, who was the current chief priest of the Miyamizu Shrine.

Furthermore, she had overheard girls at school whispering behind backs that Mitsuha's living expenses came entirely from her mayor father embezzling campaign funds, along with various rumors about Mitsuha serving as a shrine maiden—none of them flattering.

She must have had a very difficult time.

Thinking back to her own elementary school days when she was ostracized by the girls in her school simply for being too pretty, and looking at the face of the girl across from her—which was in no way inferior to her own—Yukino Yukari made her guess.

Then she thought of how she had been saved by her Japanese literature teacher, Ms. Hinako, during middle school, and how she had fled Tokyo to return to her hometown following a series of events.

Perhaps I am Miyamizu-san's "Ms. Hinako"? Let me be the one to save her. Yukino Yukari decided cheerfully in her heart, completely ignoring the fact that she herself was hardly normal either.

Perhaps, just as the catchphrase she inherited from Ms. Hinako went: Everyone is a little abnormal anyway.

Hojo Kyosuke had no idea what kind of mental storm this outrageously pretty female teacher was going through. Right now, he was staring at a pile of chocolate exposed inside Yukino Yukari's partially pulled-out drawer.

How could someone who ate so much chocolate maintain such a wonderful figure?

"Would you like some? Whether you're feeling unwell physically or mentally, chocolate can make you feel much better."

Noticing his gaze, Yukino Yukari casually picked up a piece of chocolate and handed it over.

Having been conditioned since childhood to set an example by not eating too much sugar, Hojo Kyosuke flatly refused. He had already done far too many things using Miyamizu Mitsuha's body today; if Mitsuha returned to her own body tomorrow and found herself three pounds heavier, she would probably burst into tears on the spot.

"Miyamizu-san, may I call you Mitsuha directly? You can just call me Yukino, too."

Seeing the slight nervousness in the girl opposite her, Yukino Yukari said with a smile. Changing forms of address was always the easiest shortcut to closing the distance between people.

"Of course."

Hojo Kyosuke couldn't figure out what this beautiful teacher was trying to achieve by putting on such a heart-to-heart counseling facade. It didn't seem to be about what just happened in class, so was it some lingering historical baggage belonging to Miyamizu Mitsuha?

"I know what it feels like to be ostracized at school; I experienced that kind of pain during my student days as well. So, if you have any troubles in the future, you're welcome to come talk to me. I'll do my best to understand you," Yukino Yukari said.

...

What? Miyamizu Mitsuha was being ostracized at school? Surely not? Her family had both divine authority and worldly power, and she had both a male and a female best friend—there couldn't be many high schoolers with a configuration like that.

Oh, right, those three obnoxious girls he met on the road were also in Mitsuha's class. But that hardly amounted to being ostracized, did it? Was this teacher just indulging in her own overactive imagination?

When you can't figure something out, stop thinking about it. Hojo Kyosuke was more than eager to have more contact with a "celebrity," so how could he possibly pass up this opportunity?

He immediately accepted with pleasant surprise. At that moment, the bell for class rang out, and Hojo Kyosuke hurriedly said goodbye to Ms. Yukino Yukari and sprinted toward the classroom.

Ms. Hinako, do you see this? I am doing the exact same thing you did back then.

Watching Miyamizu Mitsuha's decidedly un-ladylike running posture, Yukino Yukari felt that she still had a long and arduous journey ahead of her.

Returning to the morning, Tokyo, Sendagaki District 49, inside Hojo Kyosuke's apartment.

"Bzz bzz bzz~"

What is that? So annoying.

Her eyes felt no sunlight, which meant it wasn't time to wake up yet. When Miyamizu Mitsuha was at home, she usually relied on the sunlight streaming through the thin window paper to determine when to wake up.

Or rather, she would be forced awake when she could no longer bear the glare. Indeed, she was a chronic sleeper-in, a fact evident from the sheer absence of any alarm clock in her life.

With her eyes closed, trying desperately to keep herself from fully waking up, Mitsuha stretched out a hand to grope blindly toward the source of the commotion.

Thud.

That hurts! Before she could even touch the thing that had woken her up, Mitsuha tumbled right off the bed.

Huh? A bed? Wasn't I sleeping on tatami mats?

The annoying noise continued. Mitsuha turned her head to look—it was the smartphone sitting on the bedside table vibrating away. Reaching out and tapping the alarm icon on the screen finally made it quiet down.

The pain from the fall cleared Mitsuha's head a little, but everything before her eyes made her wonder if she was still dreaming.

An unfamiliar ceiling, an unfamiliar bed, an unfamiliar place.

Right, I seem to have been here before—that night!

As if suddenly recalling something, Mitsuha abruptly lowered her head and looked at her own chest.

Well-defined pectoral muscles, deep abdominal muscles.

Ahhh—why does this guy sleep in the nude?!

Miyamizu Mitsuha hurriedly closed her eyes in embarrassment, but that perfect physique remained burned onto her retinas as if carved there.

Could it really be a dream?

Her face felt as hot as if it were about to bleed. The reason she hadn't felt anything when she pinched those pectoral muscles earlier must have been because the muscles were simply too developed.

Having confirmed her current situation, Mitsuha stood up and put on the school uniform hanging on the rack at the foot of the bed.

She walked to the bathroom, washed her face, brushed her teeth, and admired that outrageously handsome face belonging to a guy named Hojo Kyosuke. Blushing as she unbuckled her belt to use the toilet, she finally sat down on the living room sofa to ponder the ultimate question:

Who am I? What am I doing here?

Right, I remember last time on the smartphone...

Remembering the message she had left in her phone's memo pad last time, Mitsuha bolted over to the bedside table, picked up the phone, unlocked it with a fingerprint, and opened the notes app.

Glancing hastily at the time, it showed Wednesday.

Why couldn't she see the date clearly? Without thinking much of it, Mitsuha quickly opened the memo.

"I am Hojo Kyosuke, and you are?"