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In the dormitory room, with only the moonlight barely streaming through the window, I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, yet I felt as clear-headed as if I had just opened my eyes after deep thought.

“What kind of nonsense was that?”

I couldn’t remember exactly, but I distinctly felt that I had a bad dream.

It was too vague to be called a nightmare, more like a dream that deserved to be treated as nonsense.

But I couldn’t ignore it because for some reason, that dream, which I couldn’t even remember the content of, felt strangely familiar and somehow very important.

Isn’t it the case sometimes, where you wake up and try to recall a dream, but you can’t remember any of the details?

Only the overall atmosphere of the dream lingers in your body.

That was exactly how I felt right now.

“Ugh…”

With a clammy feeling, I stared blankly, and in the meantime, a small groan and a slight movement weighed down on my body.

As I subtly lifted my head to check, two legs had climbed on top of me, pinning me down.

Well, judging by the poor sleeping habits, I didn’t need to see the face to know who those two legs belonged to, but I still turned my gaze.

Instead of sleeping properly in someone else’s bed, she lay completely horizontally, with her head hanging off the side of the bed.

Due to that position, her head was awkwardly tilted back, to the extent that it hurt my neck just to look at her.

“Is this why I had a silly dream?”

Being crushed under Anne’s legs must have made me feel uncomfortable enough to have that dream.

I shoved Anne’s legs off my stomach and straightened her out, who was sleeping in a chaotic manner.

Originally, Anne’s spot was the upper bunk on the opposite bed.

It was something she chose herself, saying she liked the upper bunk like a child.

While it wouldn’t be impossible to move her, it was too bothersome to try, so I just laid her down on my bed.

I did consider going to sleep in Anne’s empty bed, but that thought was also too much of a hassle, so I let it go.

For the record, my spot was naturally the lower bunk, just like Anne had crawled into, and right above it was Yuli’s spot.

The lower bunk across belonged to Selian, and right above was Anne’s spot.

And between the upper bunks was Linne’s hammock, who, being a ghost, was peacefully snoring away.

It seemed, given the arrangements, that Yuli and Anne often found themselves creeping into my lower bunk after late-night bathroom visits, unable to climb up due to their drowsiness, while Selian, in a hazy state, would sometimes misunderstand bed positions and crawl into my bed.

At least once a week, each of them would sneak in, so after being startled awake several times at first, I eventually got used to waking up in the morning, accepting it as a matter of course.

After laying Anne down beside me, I tried to lie back down and sleep again, but whether it was because of the dream or because I had exerted myself a bit moving Anne, sleep eluded me.

After a while of keeping my eyes closed and counting sheep to no avail, I decided to just get up.

Carefully avoiding Anne, I slipped off the bed and settled in at the table by the window.

I held the Holy Sword, which was leaning against my bed, in my hand as well.

Given the time, and bathed in the moonlight pouring in through the window, I felt oddly sentimental.

Earlier, I had blamed Anne for pinning me down, but it seemed like I’ve been having more and more silly dreams like today recently.

As always, I couldn’t remember any content from the dreams.

In fact, something deep within me seemed to urge me to recall my dreams, yet simultaneously warned me not to.

What a contradiction this is.

It’s why I treat my dreams as nonsense.

The Holy Sword seemed to be worried about me, sitting there lamenting in its low hum like it was trying to soothe me.

“Ugh… Elysia…? What are you doing awake?”

However, Selian, sensitive to even the Holy Sword’s small vibrations, woke up.

Normally, she would have just gone back to sleep out of tiredness, but upon catching sight of me illuminated by the moonlight, she started a conversation.

“No, nothing really. I just couldn’t sleep, so I was sitting here. Don’t worry about it, go back to sleep.”

But despite me telling Selian to disregard it, she rubbed her eyes and got up to sit across from me.

Selian, sitting in the chair, covered her mouth with her hand and yawned softly, looking quite graceful even in that act.

“You must be sleepy, so why did you wake up? Just sleep.”

“This is no trouble for me at all. More importantly, what’s up with you? You don’t seem the type to be awake for no reason.”

I thought I had been sitting there expressionless, but I guess my face was showing more than I realized.

“Well, nothing major… Just had a rough dream.”

“A dream…? What kind of dream was it?”

“To be honest, I’m not even sure if it was a dream or not. I don’t remember a thing about it. It felt like it was important, though…”

“You’ve been dragged around a lot lately, so you’re probably just tired. It’s during those times that you should force yourself to try to sleep.”

Indeed, as the Celestial Festival approached, my schedule had been busier.

But…

“No matter how busy I get, it can’t compare to the Hero Selian.”

How many important things could someone like me expect to experience during the Celestial Festival?

Since it was a festival for the Goddess, Selian as the Hero would have it much tougher.

However, despite my concerns, Selian merely stared at me with a stern expression.

There wasn’t even a hint of the usual soft smile she wore.

That’s when I finally realized my blunder.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that, I thought you might be sleepy. I made such a ridiculous mistake. I’m truly sorry.”

It wasn’t like I was teasing Selian, and yet here I was going on about the Hero.

What a ludicrous mistake I had made.

It was completely understandable that Selian would show a serious face, having lived her whole life as a Hero candidate, only to be robbed of her chance right before her eyes.

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Though she said not to worry, I couldn’t help but.

The silence that fell between us in the quiet of the night felt immensely awkward.

The tension was enough to make me lose even the little sleepiness that remained.

I seriously began to wonder if I had suddenly gone mad for speaking so foolishly.

“…You mentioned the dream being a problem earlier, right?”

How much time had passed? Fortunately, Selian broke the awkward silence between us.

“Uh, yeah. That’s right.”

I quickly answered, hoping not to miss the opportunity Selian presented.

I never said it was a problem, but I didn’t want to take any chances and risk ending the conversation.

If I let this opportunity slip by, I’d have to endure another maddening silence again.

It was plain that things between Selian and me would inevitably become awkward for a while.

“If you don’t remember it, it might not be necessary to force yourself to recall. If it were something truly important, it would have stayed in your memory.”

A dream doesn’t vanish the moment you wake up, and truly impactful dreams linger in your mind for days.

So, silly dreams that come up sometimes, like today’s, might not be all that memorable or actually significant.

“Besides, not knowing might be better sometimes.”

“…I guess that makes sense.”

“So, just let the dream be a dream. After all, what matters is the now, in which we live.”

That was rather serious advice considering it all started from a dream.

“Still, if by any chance you remember even a little about that dream, you have to tell me first, okay?”

“I’ll tell Selian first, but you can’t dismiss it as a boring story when I do.”

“…I won’t do that.”

Well, it’s true. Selian always listened to my stories, even the offhand comments with a look of enjoyment.

Her assurance that she wouldn’t dismiss my tale must have been sincere.

“Well then, let’s end this conversation here, and if you want to stay awake during class, you should go to sleep now, too. You should lie down as well, Selian.”

I stood up, worried that if we kept talking, I might trip again with foolish words.

“Should I?”

Fortunately, Selian rose without any suspicion and headed for her bed.

I went to my bed as well, rolled Anne toward the wall, and lay down beside her.

Unlike Selian, who woke up from the gentle hum of the Holy Sword, Anne showed no signs of stirring despite being treated roughly.

Seeing Anne’s calm state made the trivial worries I had just moments ago feel utterly insignificant, and I couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Finally, I managed to sleep again, without dreaming any silly dreams.