─Unnie… wake… up.

A soft voice pierces through the comfortable darkness.

As I hear the voice, my brain’s activity gradually increases.

All sorts of thoughts pour out freely, awakening my mind, and the various flowing thoughts merge to form a single stream.

What is created is the thought that I want to sleep more.

After taking on a human body, I’ve realized something: sleep is truly a blessing.

How terrifying it is to gain such intense pleasure just by closing my eyes for a moment.

Sleep is abundance, rest for life, and a gentle means of saving a tired body.

So don’t wake me up.

“I want to sleep more…….”

“It’s eight o’clock…? If you don’t get up, you’ll be late.”

Eight o’clock, it’s eight o’clock.

Come to think of it, there is a need to study Earth’s time system.

Here, too, all time is marked based on the cycles of the sun and moon, so if we formalize this in magical terms, we could draw on the principles of the stars to create new magic…….

Wait.

“Eight o’clock?”

My eyes snap open.

I check the smartphone that was by my pillow.

Screaming, I jump up, stagger to the bathroom.

Hyun-a, fully dressed in her uniform, follows me to the bathroom and hands me a towel.

“Geez, what happened inside the gate that made you so late?”

“Well…. It’s a long story…. Later…. Haaaam…….”

“Okay, okay. You’ll fall into the sink at this rate.”

I fell asleep as soon as I got home, but maybe it’s because I slept past one o’clock. I keep feeling drowsy.

To wake myself up, I take cold water in both hands and splash my face.

The cold water instantly awakens my foggy mind.

Riding the momentum, I quickly finish washing my face, dry it with a towel, and sit at the table.

Judging from the contents of the plate Hyun-a brings out, it seems breakfast is toast.

“I tried making toast simply today…….”

Hyun-a pauses mid-sentence.

She puts the plate of toast in front of me and looks at my face carefully.

The expression is, should I say, quite sly.

“Hmm…….”

“What, what is it?”

Why is she suddenly like this?

I touch my face to see if something is on it, but I only feel soft skin.

I wish you’d stop staring at me, no matter who you are.

“Did you really come back from clearing the gate yesterday? Didn’t you meet someone?”

“What do you mean?”

I frown slightly at Hyun-a’s words and ask.

Due to the gag order, I can’t properly talk about the contents, but it’s true that I came back from clearing the gate.

And it’s true that I met someone, but it’s closer to the fact that I saved them.

I explained everything over the phone on the way home, so is there any hidden meaning in what Hyun-a is saying now?

…I can’t quite figure it out even after thinking carefully.

In this case, I can only tilt my head because I can’t know unless I ask.

“You seem a little different from yesterday.”

“Different?”

I express my doubts about my sister’s words while taking a bite of toast.

What is this ‘atmosphere’ she’s talking about? I feel like I’m falling into a deeper mystery.

Of course, I know the dictionary definition. It’s a special feeling that a person evokes in another person.

I remember understanding it as something like the characteristics that outsiders have.

Isn’t it there.

Some outsiders make you go nicely crazy, while others make you go badly crazy.

Those things that can’t be expressed in words.

“Ugh, how do I explain this…….”

Hyun-a grabs her head and groans, looking at me with a puzzled expression.

Well, there’s nothing I can do. How can I help that I’m still becoming a person.

But I feel that it’s significantly better than before.

After a simple breakfast, I put on my uniform and left the house with Hyun-a.

Guardian School, which trains ability users, is so rich that it operates shuttle buses, so as long as you come out at the appointed time, there is no worry of being late.

It’s just that I overslept today, so it was a bit close.

Sitting next to Hyun-a, who dozes off shortly after boarding the bus, I thought about today’s tasks.

It would be nice if I could close my eyes too, but because of yesterday’s events, there were quite a few things to sort out today.

[Gate, Kim Ha-neul]

I took out my smartphone and clumsily wrote down the words.

This masterpiece of modern civilization was being used as a very good writing tool for organizing thoughts.

Since the human brain seems to have difficulty processing multiple thoughts simultaneously, once a thought starts to stray, it goes all the way, so I was currently limiting the scope of my thoughts with the help of writing.

It’s to the point where I can’t imagine life without it now.

First, let’s think about the gate.

Yeeul High School, where the gate was located, is under investigation by the association.

Although I haven’t revealed what happened inside yet, the association reacted sensitively to the fact that it was a concealed gate, immediately dispatched an investigation team, and issued a gag order.

The gate would have disappeared after being cleared, but they would be measuring it using various measuring devices.

As for the guy named Ha-neul, whom I met again in front of the cleared gate after defeating ‘Color’, his memory of the questioning seemed to have been modified by the consideration of the main body to protect his mind.

The holy sword of the goddess that brainwashed him lost its light and turned ordinary, so I’ll return it when I get a chance.

……Thinking about it carefully, there doesn’t seem to be much to organize.

I don’t think there’s any information I need to hide when I officially report to the association later.

Rather, I’m more curious about the gate connected to another world.

I should ask later if they know anything about it.

Anyway, I’ll be quite busy this morning.

As soon as I arrive, I need to have an interview with Kim Ha-neul, and I also need to report on the gate.

As my thoughts seemed to be roughly organized, I raised my head and looked around.

The inside of the bus, which is still running, has curtains drawn, creating a good environment for sleeping.

So, most of the other kids are in dreamland.

I feel like joining in the quiet atmosphere.

Looking at the time, there are about 15 minutes left until arrival, and among the phrases I found on the internet, there was one that said to rest when you’re busy.

So, let’s take a short break now.

So I closed my eyes.

…….

Murmuring sounds.

Cheers.
Voices full of emotion.

I opened my eyes to the noisy atmosphere.

I just closed my eyes for a moment and opened them, but did we already arrive?

With a feeling of disappointment, I slightly lifted the curtain and looked out the window, but the bus was still running.

“…….”

Checking the time, there are about 10 minutes left until arrival.

Feeling a strange joy and happiness, I was about to close my eyes again, but feeling it was unfair to have woken up like this, I briefly listened to the words coming from the front seat.

“Can they really kill it this time? Isn’t it already the fourth attempt?”

“Elena completely ripped it apart, so it’s instantly phase 3? They say there’s a decisive battle in Japan next week.”

America’s S-rank Guardian, the magician of creation, Elena.

……I’ve heard of it a few times, but it wasn’t a name I was interested in.

…I closed my eyes. For real this time.

The world’s largest erosion area, the Pacific Ocean.

Storms and blades echo in the void, and things of the deep sea rise to the sky and dance.

Under the dark sky,

On the surging sea, the golden magician with her feet planted raised her blue shining staff.

The giant divinity that covered the sky.

The infinitely circulating monster of another world.

The immortal impurity that rules the sea.

The shape of a giant whale looked down on the human and roared.

The magician, a single guardian, answered.

“Just die already!!”

With the falling pieces of the whale’s flesh, the magician laughed.