I had definitely introduced Yuuma to both of them. I know because Matsuda and Motohama had come out the gate with rude comments the second they saw her. They’d said things like “How come Issei’s managed to get such a gorgeous girlfriend?!” and “This runs against the natural order of things… Issei, you didn’t do anything illegal, did you?”
In response, I haughtily suggested they should go find their own girlfriends. I remembered it like it was yesterday, but they didn’t. My friends couldn’t even recall who Yuuma was. It was as if she’d never even existed.
All that time I’d spent with her had seemingly disappeared, too. That was why my friends kept calling her imaginary. Though hard to accept, it was true that Yuuma’s number and e-mail address weren’t saved on my phone anymore.
Had someone deleted them? But how? I certainly hadn’t deleted them, so who had? I tried calling her number as best as I could remember it, but it was inactive. Did that mean she hadn’t actually existed? Was it all in my head? That was absurd, and yet…
As much as I wanted to deny it, apart from my own memories, there was no evidence Yuuma had ever been real. Mulling it over, I realized I didn’t even know her address. She was from another school, so I worked out where based on her uniform and started asking around.
No one knew anything about her there, either. Yuuma simply didn’t exist. Just who had I been dating? Was it all a dream? Some fantasy I’d conjured up out of thin air? Had I just been boasting to Matsuda and Motohama about my fictional delusions all along?
…Come on now, I wasn’t crazy, right? After all, I could remember her face so clearly. Things just didn’t add up. It was like that strange energy that welled up inside me at night; something was definitely wrong.
I had sunken deep into my own doubts when Matsuda laid a hand on my shoulder. “Well, we are in the springtime of our youth, so these things happen. You guys should come over to my place after school. We can watch my secret collection together.”
“A wonderful idea! Matsuda, you must invite our good friend Issei here, too!”
“Of course, my dear Motohama. We’re all driven by the same lustful appetites. It would be an affront to our families if we failed to deliver on them.”
The two of them broke out into lecherous guffaws. No matter how you looked at it, my friends were perverts all right, the both of them. I guess that made me one, too. Well, whatever. I had no trouble living as a deviant.
“All right! Today, there’s no holding back! We’ll toast with sodas, eat some snacks, and have our fill of erotic DVDs!” At a total loss, I resigned myself to going along with the proposal.
“Yeah, now we’re talking! That’s our Issei!”
“That’s the spirit. Youth is to be savored, am I right?”
Matsuda and Motohama were certainly getting worked up. I just figured I’d put the whole thing with Yuuma on hold for a while. Taking breaks is important, you know! I was happy to forget about everything that had been going on and enjoy myself like a guy my age was supposed to!
Then, after we had made our plans for that afternoon, it happened. That brilliant crimson appeared before me yet again.
My eyes were fixed to the young woman strolling through the schoolyard outside the classroom window. It was the crimson-haired beauty, the school idol whose features transcended human flesh. Her slim proportions weren’t those of a typical Japanese girl.
That was to be expected. She wasn’t Japanese, after all. She was from somewhere in northern Europe, apparently. Based on what I’d heard, she was attending school in Japan because of her father’s job. There wasn’t a soul at the academy who hadn’t found themselves enchanted by her exquisite beauty.
Rias Gremory. She was a third-year student, which made her my senior.
When I took a look around, I realized the whole class was staring at her, Matsuda and Motohama included.
Something like this was pretty regular. Rias caught everyone’s attention when she walked by. Some came to a complete halt, and others fell silent, but everyone found themselves turning to watch her. The wind blew gently through Rias’s crimson hair as the entire student body watched.
Those radiant locks reached down to her waist, and with the breeze fanning it out behind her, it was as if Rias was walking against a scarlet backdrop. Her skin, white as snow, was stunning. Beautiful really was the only word to describe her.
Rias’s overall allure and noble bearing were nothing short of mesmerizing. Whenever I saw her, I’d get so caught up in her elegant looks that I’d forget what I was doing. Lately, however, I’d started seeing her in a different light.
Yes, she was certainly beautiful, but almost too beautiful. In some deep corner of my heart, some part of me had grown wary of Rias’s stunning figure. I couldn’t explain why, but I was sure it had something to do with Yuuma’s disappearance. At that very moment, Rias turned and locked her clear-blue eyes right on me.
—!
In that brief instant, it was though Rias had grabbed ahold of my very soul. What was this feeling? It was like going up against an opponent who held an overwhelming advantage. Rias narrowed her brilliant-blue eyes and curled her lips in a faint smile.
Was that for me? Don’t be absurd, I thought. We had never even spoken to each other. But then I recalled something from that dream I kept having. At the end of that recurring vision, there was always a crimson-haired figure calling out to me. The voice had been a kind but, at the same time, impenetrably cold. However, before I had a chance to compare Rias with the vague image in my dreams, the girl disappeared.