"Morning~. Nevada-kun."
So I showed up, shuffled into class, and greeted my classmates. I've been here long enough that having exactly one person I can call an acquaintance feels like some kind of personal failure. Today, Sabakatani Eri was wearing a school uniform from some eroge. Colorful. Loaded with ribbons. Way too much going on to pass as anything an actual school would mandate—but visual novel school uniforms have always had unhinged designs, and hers was just another entry in that tradition.
"So, what happened with the Goddess of Moonlight?"
"Who knows?"
"She gives off major yandere energy. Personally? I'd stay away."
Not that not helping her was ever really an option.
"I left early today and stayed alert so I wouldn't get ambushed."
"You still showed up pretty late, though?"
"I killed time at the station reading a book. Different vibe from school. Underrated, honestly."
"An intellectual guy reading at the train station?"
"Very chuunibyou. Very adolescent."
"Heheh. Fair point."
"So, in your expert opinion, is Akira dangerous?"
"...Hmm."
Going quiet and sulky at me doesn't help anything on my end.
"You're calling the Goddess of Moonlight 'Akira,' but I'm still 'Sabakatani-san'?"
"Should I call you Eri?"
"You get it. Just start dating me already. You could kiss me right in the middle of class, and nobody would blink."
"You could probably go further than that, and it still wouldn't count as a conduct violation."
"Then let's."
"Pass."
"Whyyy..."
"It'd feel wrong to any kids we'd have. To the souls getting reincarnated into them."
"Oh, so you're the type to get abusive once you've started a family?"
"No, I'd treat them right. I just have... personal circumstances."
"Circumstances?"
"Doesn't matter."
Not worth getting into.
"Either way, I need to figure out how to break your curse."
"Why, though?"
Was she being serious?
"It's fine the way it is. As long as Nevada-kun acknowledges I exist, that's enough for me."
"You'd die from a stroke, and nobody would call an ambulance."
"Then I'd just die."
Said that so easily. But. And yet. I was working up to telling Eri how reckless she was being—
"Nevada-kun!"
The gap between one line of conversation and the next. Akira's voice hit the classroom right in that space. The room stirred. I didn't have words either. Standing there was a girl who was supposed to be in the advanced class. Tokoyami Akira. The girl they called the Goddess of Moonlight. She could only recognize me as me during moments when I wasn't mid-conversation with Eri—but that gap had been stretched wide enough to drive through.
"The Goddess of Moonlight..."
"...It's the Goddess of Moonlight."
"Wait, Nevada-kun is...?"
The whole class was staring at me. Not that I had anything to show them.
"Nevada-kun! I love you!"
And without reading the room in the slightest, Tokoyami Akira, the Goddess of Moonlight herself, wrapped her arms around me. Expression soft and smitten. Easily the most beautiful face in our year, and she was making absolutely no effort to hide it.
"Huh? ...Huh?? ...HUUUUUUH!?!"
Obviously, none of this made sense to the class. Three days into the semester, some forgettable transfer student was receiving the undivided affection of the Goddess of Moonlight. I found it absurd too. I still do.
"Hey. Let go. Akira."
"Nope. It's your fault for getting here before me. I need to restock on Nevadanium."
"Nevada-kun? What exactly is going on?"
Eri stepped forward with what I can only describe as ominous sound effects building behind her, guardian deity and all.
"She fell for me."
Eri and I can only hear each other, so whatever.
"Isn't that fine, though? All I need is for Nevada-kun to know I'm here."
"You realize you'd die from a stroke with no ambulance."
"Then I'd die."
Still said it so easily. But. And yet. I was about to tell Eri off for this—
"Nevada-kun~. What are you doing after school? You're the new transfer, right? Want a club tour? As a date?"
"Hey—back off, Akira."
"You're such a shy one."
Clubs, actually, were something I'd been turning over in my head.
"I was just about to—mmph!"
And right in the middle of a sentence, my lips were covered. Everyone saw something happen. Only I knew what it was. I got kissed. By Eri. By Sabakatani Eri.
"Hey. You just poured gas on a fire."
"It was just a kiss. Relax. Nobody even knows I exist."
Which was technically true. The kiss would be treated like it never happened. The most beautiful girl alive—Eri, who had Akira beat by seven lengths on any metric—goes unregistered by everyone except me. A genuine loss for the world, honestly. I'm the only one who can see her because of the Reversed-Side Sight I was born with. That's why she's fixed on me.
"That doesn't make it okay to kiss me."
"Nevada, keeping his eyes glued to Tokoyami-san, is the problem."
"Sure."
"You're allowed to kiss me too, you know."
"Even at the wrong time and place?"
"I'm always open."
And without the faintest clue she was being stolen from, Akira kept holding on.
"Hey. Nevada-kun. Let's be all lovey-dovey."
"We already are."
"More. I want everyone here to know who you belong to."
"I don't think they're following."
The Goddess of Moonlight is going completely soft over me. Hard not to have thoughts about that.
"So, Nevada—are you going out with Tokoyami-san?"
"I know she's a landmine. Bone-deep."
And I meant it.
"Nevada-kun. Should we kiss?"
"No."
"Oh, I made you a bento. Eat with me."
"I keep saying—don't act like my girlfriend when we're not dating."
When I said that. CRACK. SNAP. CRUNCH. The sound of a pen being destroyed. Akira—clinging to me, getting nothing back but "don't act like my girlfriend"—apparently hit her limit and crushed whatever was in her hand. I understood the feeling. But I had no intention of dating a landmine like her.
"Of course, we'll eat the bento together. And club browsing this afternoon is a date—I'll show you around."
And so that's how that went. How many times Eri kissed me during all of this is classified information.

Chapter 5: Getting Used to School, More or Less