All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

"Are you asleep?"

Kotomi Izumi slowly opened her eyes and found that she wasn't on the sports field, nor in Shizuka Hiratsuka's arms, and what appeared before her wasn't a "strange ceiling."

Rumble rumble—

The sound of a train running filled her ears. Looking across at the empty seat opposite her, Kotomi shook off the drowsiness and began to understand her current situation.

She wasn't sure if she had just woken up or was still dreaming. At the very least, what she saw now was herself sitting inside a moving train.

"Where is this train going?" Kotomi rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat on the long bench seat, looking out the window. But all she could see was the golden hue of the sunset reflecting through the glass. Nothing else was visible.

It was as if during the time she had been asleep, Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, and South America—the blazing deserts, vast oceans, blue skies, and the solid earth beneath it all—had quietly met their end in an orderly destruction.

Rumble rumble—

Should she say this was the only train left in the world? Or that the rumbling wasn't the sound of the train at all, but the deep mourning of a collapsing world?

Like a meticulously arranged set of dominoes—no matter how much care is taken in their placement, it's all just for the sake of the final toppling.

Or like a violin so old it's been playing since the last century, now finally unable to endure. One by one, the strings snap, until at last the violin can no longer produce a sound.

If you want that stringless violin to make noise again, then lift it high—and smash it to the ground! Let it shatter into pieces with one final sound!

"The outside is just dusk—it's not transparent, it's heavy. Or rather, thick... I can't see anything beyond the train window. Just this one color. I mean, I do like the color of sunset, but that doesn't mean I want to look at just that and nothing else."

Kotomi touched the window and muttered to herself. Her palm met a cold response. When she knocked lightly on the glass, she was surprised at how solid it felt. The thickness of the window glass seemed excessive—more suited for an armored vehicle than a train.

She thought she was awake.

But the scene before her made her believe even more that she must still be dreaming.

She just didn't expect that in her dream, she wouldn't see a beautiful girl—but instead, find herself sitting on a train.

Kotomi glanced around the completely empty train car. Thank goodness it was still dusk—if it were night, she might've started imagining herself in some urban legend like the Kisaragi Station.

"It really is... such an unchanging shade of dusk."

No matter how long the train ran, the view outside remained the same single color. The glow of the setting sun could still be felt on her skin, but outside the window, there was nothing but dusk.

Where had the buildings gone? The power poles? The streetlights?

"Dusk... It couldn't really be Ragnarok now, could it?" Kotomi chuckled at her own joke. There was nothing else to do while sitting alone in the train.

And with nothing but the color of dusk outside, the longer one stared at it, the more their sense of time seemed to thin. Once it became as thin as a sheet of paper, it might rip apart and vanish, and the very concept of time would disappear from her mind altogether.

The train began to slow down—as if it were arriving at a station. And finally, the scenery outside changed. The interior of a station came into view, and if she looked closely, she could even see a cityscape beyond the platform. Seeing so many people waiting on the platform, Kotomi chuckled softly:

"Thank goodness, finally some living people. Once someone boards, I have to ask them what's going on here."

The train slowly came to a stop. Kotomi straightened her posture slightly, preparing to ask someone what was going on once a passenger boarded.

But strangely, even though the train had stopped and the doors had opened, none of the people standing on the platform boarded. It was as if they were still waiting for their train—standing behind the yellow line, looking down at their phones, reading books, zoning out after a long day, or quietly discussing dinner plans while holding paper bags full of groceries.

Whatever they were doing, not a single person stepped onto the train Kotomi was riding. When the train pulled into the station, they hadn't even looked up to check if it was the one they needed.

It was as if the train Kotomi was on was invisible to everyone else. Even though it was clearly there, people on the platform might still be thinking, "Why isn't the train here yet? It's really late today."

"Seriously, what the heck is going on?"

Kotomi muttered to herself as she stood up and walked toward the door, intending to get off the train.

Thud!

Just as she reached the door and tried to step out, it was like running into a solid wall. Kotomi crashed into an invisible barrier and fell to the floor. The pain she felt made it clear—it was as if she had hit a real wall.

"Eh..."

Her pink eyes were full of confusion. She pushed herself up and reached toward the open doorway, but just before her hand crossed the threshold, it was stopped. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't extend her hand beyond the doorway.

It felt like there was an impossibly thick, invisible wall separating the open train door and the platform outside.

The train doors closed again.

Rumble rumble.

The train started moving once more.

As it departed the station, Kotomi saw the station interior and the cityscape recede in the background. And then, just like before, the view outside the window became nothing but the single color of dusk.

The normal city scenery from just a moment ago had once again turned into a world filled only with the color of sunset. Everything else seemed to have vanished, as if the world itself had been erased.

Kotomi slumped helplessly onto the train bench and looked up. Above her was an ad that read: "Where to go for winter break?"

"That was so weird. I couldn't step out of the train, like there was a wall deliberately stopping me from leaving. And the people on the platform... they didn't see the train, didn't come aboard, and didn't even look up."

The sense of time she had momentarily regained when the train entered the station and showed her people, the station, and the city—was now once again being worn away by the long, heavy, and all-consuming hue of dusk outside the window.

"Kazumi... Kazumi... Kazumi..."

At this moment, Kotomi began calling Kazumi's name over and over—but the Kazumi within her didn't respond.

Before she knew it, Kotomi had fallen asleep again on the train bench. When she opened her eyes once more, the only thing outside the window was still that same single color of dusk.

One minute? An hour? Who knew—after some unknown passage of time, the train continued running at a steady pace, then began to slow down again, as if preparing to pull into another station.

Upbeat music played outside the train, ending with a soft dong as the final note.

"The train is arriving at the station. For your safety, please stand behind the yellow line."

She could see the name of the station now: Ube-Shinkawa Station.

Compared to the last station, this one had far fewer people—only a handful.

But the people standing on the platform were all people Kotomi knew.

"Megumi, Iroha, Yukino, Yui, Arisu, Shizuka-sensei, Utaha-senpai, Sakurajima-senpai, Tendo-senpai, Haruno, Mashiro, Aimi, Asuka, Mrs. Yuigahama, and Miss Kika... Can they see me?"

"...Can they see me?" Kotomi stood at the window, then once again approached the slowly opening train doors and took a step forward.

Thud!

Once again, she was blocked by an invisible wall.

The people outside seemed to see the train arriving at the station and were trying to board. They walked along the platform, searching for the train doors—but none of them could find a way in.

It was as if only Kotomi inside the train could see the door. The people outside could see the train, but not its interior, and they couldn't locate a way inside.

Tap tap~

Light footsteps echoed behind her. Someone had boarded the train! And from the sound, it was someone Kotomi knew well!

Who among them had found the door and entered the train?! Kotomi spun around, eager to see who had managed to step inside.

Boom—

Just as she turned, before she could clearly see who it was, everything went dark—as if someone had flipped a switch and turned off the lights. She couldn't see a thing.

Was she asleep again?

No—Kotomi felt she was slowly waking up. When she finally opened her sleepy eyes, what she saw above her was the ceiling of the infirmary.

She'd used the phrase "a strange ceiling" too many times already, so this time, she decided not to say it.

She was lying in a bed—not seated on that strange train.

Turning her head to the side, her gaze met that of Shizuka Hiratsuka.

"Shizuka-sensei..."

"Finally awake? Feeling better? Is there anywhere that still hurts? School's already over. I'll drive you home in a bit. There's no homework today, so if there's nothing important in your bag, you can leave it in the classroom for now," Shizuka said softly, keeping her voice gentle after seeing Kotomi had woken.

Kotomi shook her head, then, after processing Shizuka's words for a moment, suddenly quipped, "Shizuka-sensei, did you finally give in to your inner desires and make a move on me? If I end up pregnant, you'd better take responsibility, okay?"

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