Chapter 1: She Comes Through the Window

I love windows.

More than anything else in my room.

An old apartment building that's been around for decades. This cramped six-tatami room, which I acquired just recently, is my own little kingdom. The pleasant May night breeze blows in through the open window, and a faint moonlight filters inside.

In this quiet room, I spread my textbooks on the low table by the window and study without anyone disturbing me. For me, it's not a bad way to spend time.

Even if it's three in the morning and I'm struggling with high school assignments, two years behind schedule.

It was, by no means, a bad time.

—Until I sensed her presence beyond the window.

A gust of wind billowed the curtains. Red particles of light flowed in with the wind through the open window, sparking and disappearing right before my eyes.

A clicking sound of heels upon landing. I look beyond the window. The thin curtains, blown wide open by the strong wind, revealed everything.

Standing lightly on the rickety, about-to-collapse old balcony was a lone girl.

Flowing flaxen hair. A well-formed face that still retained a sweet innocence, adorned with a mature jet-black dress. From its hem extended long, slender legs, and despite her elegant shoulders, her chest seemed disproportionately soft and full.

She looked almost artificial. A beautiful girl like a well-crafted sculpture or mannequin stood on the rusted balcony under the moonlight.

As if that weren't unreal enough, there was another definitive sense of unease about her. Her eyes, gazing straight at me—one of them shone like a red gemstone, a heterochromatic eye.

She lifted her faintly colored lips into a smile, tilting her head slightly in a gesture of greeting.

"Good evening, Asuka. It's a lovely night, isn't it?"

She called my name.

With a flawless smile that could make even a blooming flower turn away. In a voice that resonated softly like a clear bell.

"Because it's such a lovely night, I wanted to see your face... so I came to visit."

Hearing those words, suddenly. The pencil I had pressed into my notebook snapped with a sharp sound.

Rather than snapped—I had snapped it. I tossed the broken pencil into the trash and asked her, my old acquaintance:

"What do you want, witch?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

She replied, her red eye gleaming mysteriously from between her bangs.

"I've come to pick a fight with you, hero!"

She called me by that detestable "former title."

"Go home."

—There's a concept known as "otherworld summons."

One day, you're suddenly called to a world different from this one and asked, "Please save our world."

The standard scenario is that the world is threatened by an evil Demon King, and humanity is on the brink of extinction. As a bonus, you're granted special cheat abilities—that's the typical story. In fiction, at least.

I, Asuka Hinami, am an ordinary high school student. At least, I am now. And—though it's a rather embarrassing part of my past—I was once summoned to another world as a [Hero].

The intruder in my room before me is Sakuya Fumiduki. She lives in the apartment building opposite mine and is a classmate. She was once a [Witch], a top lieutenant of the Demon King I fought in the other world.

Two years ago, I was summoned by the people of another world and asked to "defeat the Demon King."

On the other hand, Sakuya Fumiduki was summoned by that Demon King and asked to "defeat the Hero."

We were each summoned to another world as a Hero and a Witch, respectively, and for two years, we fought as enemies. Until the final battle at the Demon King's castle, when we met face-to-face for the first time, not knowing each other's identities until then.

When we realized each other's true identities, it was terrible.

'What the hell are you doing here!?'

'That's my line!'

We had an awkward exchange like that—or maybe we didn't.

After all, we were classmates even before we were summoned to the other world.

It's awkward, isn't it? Seeing someone you know going around proudly calling herself a "Witch," and having your own embarrassing title of "Hero" revealed. It's a disgrace that will haunt you forever.

Anyway, after reuniting in the other world, we went through various things, ended the war, and returned to this modern world together—that's the rough "story so far."

Now. At three in the morning, on the balcony.

I avert my eyes from her, who came to pick a fight...

I close the window. I lock it. Ignoring Sakuya Fumiduki, who panics, pounding on the window. It's about time. I lay out my futon.

"Alright... time to sleep!"

Immediately. Behind me, the window I should have locked slides open.

"Don't 'alright' me!"

Her left eye gleaming red between her fingers, she used her [Magic Eye], the cheat ability she acquired in the other world, to unlock the window and step over the threshold without permission. She even neatly took off her heels and lined them up... She's got these odd bits of proper upbringing.

I sighed.

"Why do you keep bothering me?"

Even though we were enemies, we shouldn't have any reason to quarrel now. We were both just hired hands summoned to the other world as a Hero and a Witch. We fought because we were asked to, not because we had any attachment to that world.

Besides, the war is over.

She frowned her well-shaped eyebrows irritably.

"I won't let you say you've forgotten how you treated me during the final battle."

Ah, that. I scratched my head in exasperation.

"You're still holding a grudge over that..."

That happened during the final battle, after we realized each other's identities.

Even though we could have stopped fighting and put down our weapons upon knowing we were both hired hands and acquaintances.

I had taken the role of Hero a bit too seriously for those two years.

—If I didn't fight, I'd be killed. That had been ingrained into my instincts. So...

'No way... This can't be happening!' While she was shaken upon realizing that the Hero was me, I took advantage of the opening and beat her thoroughly.

Remembering that treatment, Sakuya clenched her small fists in anger.

"It was cowardly! Underhanded! Is that something a righteous Hero would do!?"

"It was an accident."

"An accident, you say...!?"

Forgive me. Exploiting a gap is an occupational hazard.

Well, thanks to that, the world was saved, the war ended, and both the Hero and the Witch were relieved of their duties. We both managed to return to this world, so isn't that fine? ...Or so I think.

Apparently, she doesn't see it that way. Perhaps due to her high pride stemming from her well-to-do upbringing.

"...That match is void. I won't acknowledge that I lost to you!"

With indignant enthusiasm, her eyes sparkled, and she pointed a slender finger at me.

"I challenge you to a rematch. Now, draw your [Holy Sword]!"

Immediate response.

"No."

Why on earth would I have to fight over something from the other world now that we're back here?

I recall the other world with bitter feelings.

The other world we were in was, to put it bluntly, a black company. The Hero's job was 24/7 with no pay and hardly any breaks. Swords are heavy, and fighting is just tiring. Even if you can dominate with cheat abilities, you get bored in four days. Repeating days of kill or be killed, my sleep quality deteriorated continuously. Damn that black company of an other world. There was nothing enjoyable about it.

After finally ending the war and being able to return home.

Now, battles with swords and magic? No way. You've got to be kidding me!

She must have had a similarly black workplace as a Witch over there. So why would she still want to engage in something like combat...

An idea strikes me.

"Don't tell me—you've got other world syndrome?"

"Huh? What's that?"

I mean. What else could it be?

Even before wanting to pick a fight, it's abnormal to enter someone's house through the window at three in the morning. That's not normal. I can only think that she's forgotten the common sense of this world due to other world syndrome.

All I want is a peaceful, ordinary life. After all the trouble of returning to this world, I want to live a healthy and cultural normal life. I have no desire to live a life where I have to deal with a Witch coming in through my window at three in the morning.

I suspect that the reason she still wants to fight is because she's still stuck in the mindset of the other world.

"If you really want to fight, think of a peaceful method appropriate for this world. Well, I doubt your other world-addled brain can manage that!"

"Whaaat!?"

She let out an incredulous voice, and after a moment of silence, her expression turns blank. She changes her large eyes into a scornful gaze, looking me up and down.

"Who are you calling other world-addled?"

"Well, you're wearing a T-shirt that says 'Seaweed'... Your fashion sense is the worst. Did you leave it behind in the other world? Even armor would be a hundred times better."

I froze. So that's how she wants to play it. She plans to provoke me with cheap taunts to get me to accept her fight. Hah, as if I'd fall for such tactics—

"Even if you had decent taste, with that scowling look, nothing would suit you. And those bandages wrapped around your arm? So suspicious."

...Irritated.

"I bet you secretly say, 'Damn, my right arm is throbbing...' or something. You chuunibyou."

"I do not!"

I can tolerate jabs at my appearance. It's an objective fact that I have a mean look and that the bandages on my right arm are suspicious. But slander is different.

I won't be called a chuunibyou by a girl who gleefully calls herself a Witch and has heterochromia!

"Oh? If you've got complaints, why don't you try settling it with force?"

Sakuya smirked, lifting her faintly red lips and crossing her arms. The thin dress she wore, light for spring, was, to put it plainly, quite revealing. The pale chest that couldn't be fully concealed by her folded slender arms was a sight for sore eyes.

...Wait, calling my 'fashion sense otherworldly' (as an insult) is a boomerang. What's with your outfit? Wearing such revealing clothes nowadays, only villains in manga do that. Just because you're beautiful doesn't mean you can get away with it.

But pointing it out feels embarrassing. I silently avert my eyes from her upper body, letting my gaze drift diagonally downward.

(...Hm?)

Then I notice. Something white and rectangular fluttering at the hem of her black dress.

"You've got a tag on your clothes."

Sakuya blinked.

"Uh...!"

She quickly held down the hem. The new tag fluttered away as if to escape.

Naturally, my gaze became somewhat lukewarm. Perhaps it was an embarrassment better left unmentioned.

"T-this is, um..."

Having just been acting all high and mighty, she must have been even more mortified. Sakuya opened and closed her lips silently.

Her face wasn't turning red, but that's probably thanks to her makeup. Now that I look closely, her glossy lips have a faint tint. Going through the trouble of putting on makeup at this hour.

(...Wait a minute?)

—Why is she all dolled up in the middle of the night? To go meet someone she supposedly dislikes, going out of her way to wear new clothes?

...Hah, could it be.

I have an intuition. I'm probably making a rather wicked face right now.

"You know..."

"W-what?"

I get it. This is just childish provocation. It's petty, and I'm stooping to her level. But I can't help but exploit the opening in front of me.

I tease.

"You actually like me, don't you?"

Well. I know there's no way that's true.

Sakuya.

She parted her lips slightly in a small "ha," but no voice came out. Her pale cheeks, even through the makeup, flushed bright red.

Eh.

What's with that reaction?

"...Seriously?"

"N-no way! 'Explode!'"

As she came back to herself, she shouted an incantation in the otherworld language, her hand covering her eye. A small explosion sparked and struck my forehead. My body flew back cartoonishly, crashing onto the tatami mat. Ouch.

Sakuya looked down at me from above, her face red.

"Fine. I'll accept your demand. As a Witch, I have enough mercy not to blow away your apartment's security deposit with magic. Next time, I'll settle my score with you through peaceful means appropriate for this world."

Feigning composure to hide her blushing face, with a dignified gaze.

"Tomorrow at school. Let's settle this with the scores on our returned tests."

She uttered uncharacteristically realistic words.

"So—forget everything that just happened!"

Sakuya leaped out the window, and in about five steps' distance, she flew gently through the air back to the third-floor apartment across from mine. Along with the tag fluttering in the wind.

...Wait, what if someone sees you flying?

The window left open. After her presence had completely disappeared.

I got up, holding my scorched forehead. The spot where I took her magical equivalent of a flick to the forehead stung. Are you some kind of old-school tsundere violent heroine? That's so out of style now.

Alone again in my quiet room, I savor the value of peace.

I prefer quiet nights. I want a life where nothing happens, where Witches don't come and go through my window.

To achieve that, I know I should move somewhere she doesn't know, instead of living in this room opposite the Witch.

But I have my reasons for not doing that.

"She wasn't like that before..."

—Two years ago. Before we were sent off to that other world.

Sakuya Fumiduki was an ordinary girl. Well, she stood out a bit—in the sense that she was beautiful—but she was a sensible, normal person.

Now look at her. An embarrassing chuunibyou Witch who trespasses through windows because we're enemies.

But the reason she ended up like that is due to "other world syndrome."

As a fellow otherworld returnee, I can't just ignore her after seeing such a dramatic before-and-after.

And why should I have to move? I was living here first. She should be the one to uphold the neighborly courtesies.

Therefore—it's time for some tough love.

If she can't accept her defeat in the other world, then I'll thoroughly defeat her once more. Without swords, magic, or cheats, even in this world, I'll prove I'm superior. Then she'll stop bothering me.

So for now. Fine, I'll accept the fight she offered.

And I will definitely reclaim my peaceful modern life—!

—So.

The unnecessary thought that she might actually like me.

Is something I absolutely don't need right now.

I recall her face, flushed red. That unguarded expression sticks oddly in my mind.

I sighed.

"...Looks like I won't be sleeping tonight."

2

One day, I was suddenly summoned to an unknown world. The [Demon King] who appeared before me said:

"Welcome to the other world. Lend us your power to destroy this world."

And so I became the [Witch] of the other world. For two years, I studied desperately, learned magic... and worked. Without even time to sleep.

"If you defeat the [Hero], your wish shall be granted."

—Because I had a wish I absolutely wanted to come true.

But then. That Hero!

"Are you seriously thinking of 'destroying the world'? Are you out of your mind?"

He beat me to a pulp and said mockingly.

"You're the one seriously trying to 'save the world'! What's wrong with you!?"

Fighting for an unfamiliar, unimportant, and extremely black company-like world? That's taking naivety too far. And without any reward? Unbelievable!

We were both summoned to the other world, in exactly the same circumstances, yet our positions and claims were completely opposite. Precisely because we were similar, the divide was absolute.

During the final battle, we simultaneously realized.

—Ah. I can never understand this person.

We thought.

◆◆◆

In the apartment building I recently moved into, right across from his.

I literally flew back there, slammed the window shut behind me, and in the too-spacious room for one person in the dim light.

I collapsed.

(Aaaaah! I messed up, I messed up...!!)

—To think I'd show such an embarrassing side in front of him!

Acting on impulse, I ripped off the tag on my dress and tossed it. The tag bounced off the edge of the trash can. No control.

"......"

I quietly activated magic. The tag burned away without a trace of ash. Evidence destroyed.

Sigh...

—I shouldn't have worn new clothes in the first place!

Still sitting on the floor, holding my head, I caught sight of myself in the mirror in the dark room. My hair carefully combed before going to see him. Makeup a bit more glamorous than my usual school look.

...It's just proper etiquette. I changed clothes because it's improper to go see someone in loungewear, and it just happened to be new.

It's not like I dressed up for him or anything!

(...Huh?)

Looking in the mirror, I realize anew. ...Isn't this outfit a bit too revealing? I wonder if he thought I looked indecent.

I lift my heavy chest. Not to brag, but I've got a pretty good figure. So unless I wear clothes that accentuate my body's lines, they don't suit me, and I reluctantly favor outfits that are a bit revealing... Compared to the dresses I wore over there in the other world, this is nothing, so it's totally fine.

—No. Not fine at all.

When he says things like, "You know, actually..." the issue isn't about how revealing my clothes are. The tag—that's it, it's all because of the trap of wearing something new. Blame it on the common sense of this world, where you want to wear new clothes when meeting someone you like.

Recalling what he said makes my face heat up.

"No, no, no, no! That's not it at all!"

I make excuses to my reflection in the mirror, frantically fanning my face.

I know. I know he didn't really mean it when he said that.

He's just unnecessarily perceptive and annoyingly good at provoking people. Not exactly a talent befitting a Hero. Worst personality ever. Jerk. Seaweed-head. I should've thrown some snark back at him.

...Even though I know all that. Why does my face still turn red?

—I also know the reason.

It's a "sickness." A troublesome illness left behind by my old self—a lingering remnant.

Before being summoned to the other world. I didn't think badly of him—Asuka Hinami, that is. It's irritating to admit, but I liked him. The name of the illness is "first love."

But that affection is strictly in the past tense. My body just remembers an old love.

—I don't like him one bit now.

Now. My goal is to settle the score with him.

Back then, over in the other world, he utterly defeated me.

"Are you seriously thinking of 'destroying the world'? Are you out of your mind?"

He said that—and completely negated my two years in the other world.

"What do you know... You don't even understand what I wanted to achieve."

There are three things I can't forgive.

He utterly defeated me.

He denied my efforts. And,

He got in the way of me fulfilling my wish.

Even if the battle is over—I can't just let things end like this!

Filled with fighting spirit, I stand up. In the mirror, I see myself grinning wickedly like a true witch.

"Heh, heh heh... I'll make you kneel before me someday!"

Just you wait! I'll be the one who laughs last!

So—

"You actually like me, don't you?"

"It's not... like that at all."

My muttering lips feel hot—that's just my imagination.

Absolutely.