It all started the moment that strange light streamed in through the window.
“Maybe this is my only way to escape…?”
The light didn’t feel warm. It didn’t feel comforting. It felt cold, like a white crystal cutting through the darkness of her empty room. Mafuyu, lying perfectly still in her perfectly made bed, watched the shimmering light, thinking about her life—a script written by her mother: a straight-A student, a future doctor, the sweet daughter.
Her second identity was Yuki in Nightcord at 25, where she was the lyricist of the group, together with Kanade, Ena, and Mizuki. Kanade’s purpose was to save Mafuyu by composing songs. Ena’s was to become an artist. Mizuki just wanted to belong. Mafuyu? She didn’t know. She felt empty—no feelings, not even knowing what she wanted to be. But the Sekai couldn’t fully banish the other world. Every morning, the harsh sun of reality brought the façade crashing back.
The model student.
The talented daughter.
The one who told her mother, “I love the idea of becoming a doctor,” while the voice in her head screamed, “I want to be a nurse.”
The void: the overwhelming sense that she had lost the ability to feel anything.
She was just a doll her mother used. Her mother loved her daughter—but not Asahina Mafuyu.
I want to disappear.
“Why do I have to be the perfect daughter? Why am I always the smart upperclassman? Of course I am…”
At 1 a.m., she and her Nightcord team made music in Sekai. Her mother had no idea she stayed up to make songs. Or so she thought.
One day, Mafuyu came home from school to see her mother standing there, waiting for her.
“I’m back, Mother. Oh— is something wrong?”
“Mafuyu, I threw out your PC. It’s a distraction from your studies. You’re getting close to the entrance exams.”
“…You did what? Why?”
“Your teacher called me and said your grades dropped. I’m doing this for your future.”
“I HAVE NEVER WANTED TO BECOME A DOCTOR!”
“Huh? You’re probably tired. Go to your room and rest.”
“Just because I wanted to study medicine doesn’t mean I wanted to be a doctor! I want to be a nurse!”
“!…Mafuyu, don’t talk nonsense. Give me your phone.”
“No!”
“No? Are you kidding me? I said give it.”
“No!”
Her mother grabbed the phone and accidentally dropped it into the fish tank.
“No…”
Tears forming in her eyes, she stormed out the door, running to Kanade’s house.
What do I do now? I don’t know. I don’t want to return home.
Please let me stay with you, Kanade.