Fogglass
The phone rang sharply.
Riiiiing!
Riiiiing!
It definitely wasn’t time for the alarm yet.
Wondering if it had gone off by mistake, I pulled the blanket over my head and closed my eyes again.
Riiiiing!
“Ugh, seriously!”
Who the hell was calling at the crack of dawn like this? And today was the weekend, of all days. The precious hours when I could legally sleep in until eleven.
I loaded up about 5,700 characters’ worth of beautiful family greetings and animal-themed compliments, grabbed my phone, and then—
“...Yuri?”
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked again. It was her.
She had never once called me at this hour.
Of course, her original personality was a night owl who usually slept until four in the morning, but even so, she wasn’t the type to call, right?
Was she sick? Or had something worse happened—like a burglar?
Dark thoughts flooded my mind, so I quickly answered.
“Yuri, are you okay? Did something happen?”
“Our long-awaited romance has finally rendezvoused at the rendezvous point, hasn’t it?”
“...Huh?”
The voice was definitely Yuri’s.
But the tone was different. It was languid, faintly blurred… completely unfamiliar.
Did any of Yuri’s personalities talk like this?
I jumped out of bed and yanked the curtains open.
The weather outside was…
A thick, foggy dawn.
“Are you… the personality that appears on foggy days?”
“Esakta! (Correct!)”
I was a little thrown.
Yuri had definitely told me there were four weather-based personalities: sunny, cloudy, rainy, and snowy.
That should have been all of them.
Yet the tone and voice coming through the phone right now didn’t match any of those four.
Was there some special reason? Did the foggy personality not interact with the others?
Even then, the main personality should have at least known about her, right?
My thoughts kept spiraling until her voice came again.
“Now, Noah. It’s time to reconnect the three-year gap we left behind.”
“Sorry. My brain’s not fully awake yet since it’s so early, so I’m having a hard time following. What exactly do you want to do, Yuri?”
“Voyager is still pressing onward toward the origin of the universe even in this moment. If that is a metaphor, then who is my origin? I believe you already know the answer.”
“Why use the fancy word ‘origin’ when the simple word ‘first’ exists?”
The vocabulary was one thing, but the metaphors were way too obscure.
What on earth did she want?
“That, too, is part of the romance. Noah. We have met like this at the end of some looping Möbius universe. To be a little more honest… I’ll be arriving in front of your house soon.”
“You could’ve just said that from the start. I’ll head out.”
“I’ll be waiting~”
Click.
The call ended.
The clock on my phone read 4:30 a.m.
“Haa… what the hell is even going on?”
Even as I grumbled, I was already pulling on my clothes.
#
I crept out of the house as quietly as possible so I wouldn’t wake Mom.
The cold dawn air mixed with the fog that blanketed the alleyways.
A milky sea of mist so dense it looked like it would scatter if I reached out.
From within it, someone was walking toward me.
It was a girl with refreshing sky-blue hair.
Her long, untouched strands of water-colored hair looked almost like the universe itself.
Her eyes were the same sky-blue, and they were breathtakingly beautiful.
But why did she come barefoot? What if she steps on something sharp?
While I was worrying, she smiled brightly and spoke.
“A fine dawn to you. The perfect moment to set off on an adventure.”
“...So you really are the personality for foggy days.”
At my words, she laughed like a child and held out her hand.
Without the slightest hesitation, as if genuinely inviting me to join her on a journey.
I took her hand without refusing.
It feels so fleeting. Like it would vanish the moment I let go. Just like this foggy weather.
“We don’t have much time. Shall we walk toward La Mancha first? Come, my own Sancho.”
“You’re going to explain everything while we walk, right?”
“Romance cannot be explained simply with words or writing. Our souls must feel it directly.”
“Still difficult. It’d be nice if you could turn those metaphors into something a bit more straightforward.”
“Is that so… But that would not be avant-garde. You will understand when the time comes.”
She spoke exactly like the green cat from that mobile game I’d played since I was twenty.
I’d talked with many of Yuri’s personalities, but if we were judging pure incomprehensibility, the foggy one seemed to take first place.
Still, I could at least make one guess.
The foggy personality is a fourth-dimensional being who values romance above all else.
Even among the countless metaphors, the words “romance” and “longing” kept appearing with strange frequency.
In that case, I should probably play along with this journey (walk) meant to fulfill that sense of romance.
“Alright. Let’s walk, Yuri. I’ll just treat it like morning exercise.”
“May flowers and maidens bless your resolve.”
“It’d be great if you could tone down the cringey expressions a little~ Wait a second.”
I stopped her for a moment, went back inside the house, grabbed a pair of Crocs from the entryway, and returned.
“Put these on. If you walk barefoot for too long, you’ll get calluses or hurt yourself.”
She silently lifted the Crocs, eyes sparkling, then slipped her feet inside.
Then came the clack-clack.
Followed by little hops.
She looked quite satisfied.
“...How kind. To think I would receive such a wonderful romance right from the start.”
“Enough with the romance talk. Let’s go.”
We walked together down the foggy street.
#
Maybe it was because I was out at an unusual hour with heavy fog.
Even though this was the same neighborhood I passed every day on my way home from school or during workouts, it felt completely different.
Of course, the fact that Yuri was walking beside me probably had a lot to do with it.
The foggy-day Yuri was impossible to predict.
She’d suddenly leave the main road for an alley, greet a cat with “I’ve found the Caspalug!” and then move on.
When I asked if she knew how to ride a bike after she said she wanted to take one, she replied that she’d ride in the basket in front.
She kept blurting out the most random, whimsical things.
Then we stopped at a 24-hour dessert café that was open even at dawn.
“....Ooh!”
Yuri’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the desserts in the display case.
The way she tugged on my sleeve and stood on her tiptoes made it obvious.
“You want some, don’t you?”
“Every adventure must have its spoils. Don’t you agree, Noah?”
“Even your fancy metaphors lose their power in front of dessert?”
“......”
She puffed her cheeks slightly and turned her head away in embarrassment.
She was so cute I thought I might die.
I took her hand again and led her inside the café.
“Huuam… Oh! Welcome~”
“Hello~ Could we get one chocolate brownie shaved ice and two Americanos?”
I was about to place the order with the part-timer who had been dozing off, clearly not expecting customers at five in the morning, when—
“Noah. Noah.”
My sleeve was tugged again.
Yuri had completely hidden behind me, looking shy, and spoke in a mumble.
It seemed even the fourth-dimensional foggy personality had social anxiety when she was outside, despite being able to go out.
“I can’t drink anything bitter… so a latte instead…”
“Baby taste buds, huh?”
“The age of third-year middle school, when measured objectively—”
“Yes, yes~ Sorry about that. One Americano and one latte, both iced, please.”
I took the order slip from the part-timer and headed to a seat with Yuri.
Since it was five in the morning, the place felt like we had rented it out. We settled into a table in the back.
While I watched Yuri already drooling as she stared at the menu—
“Your chocolate shaved ice and drinks are ready~”
A voice called from the first floor saying our order was prepared.
“I’ll go get it, Yuri.”
“...Let’s go together.”
“It’s just picking up the food?”
“There exists an imaginary creature called the Biyi Bird. It has only one eye and one wing, so it can only fly by relying on its pair.”
“You’re the only one who’d phrase ‘I don’t want to be apart’ like that.”
Even so, I let her stick right beside me.
The foggy personality clung to me in a full-on “hug me” posture, as if she had no intention of letting go.
“Hehe…. This really is the most reassuring place.”
#
Some people eat hamburgers at three in the morning, so eating shaved ice at five wasn’t that strange.
Still, loading up on sweet stuff from the start made my blood sugar feel like it was skyrocketing.
I at least balanced it with my Americano, but since Yuri’s latte was even sweeter, I worried she might get sick of it.
But as if to prove my concern pointless, she savored every topping, shaking the condensed milk packet before drizzling it over the white shaved ice.
“At last, the moment I’ve reached second place on my favorite shaved ice dessert ranking!”
“What’s with that weirdly specific ranking? What could possibly be first?”
“Hehe, that would be the natural maple icicle that only grows in caves. I swore I would eat it someday.”
I wasn’t even sure if such a thing existed, but she looked ready to drag me into a cave to find it.
I chuckled and placed my hand over hers as she squeezed the condensed milk.
“Hwa…?”
“You have to push from the end little by little. If you start from the middle, it won’t come out cleanly.”
“An unexpected skinship… This too is a piece of romance…”
Now she was blushing over the smallest touch.
Her pace was truly impossible to predict.
But watching her happily wiggle her legs while eating the condensed-milk-soaked ice, I decided it didn’t matter.
We spent a while silently savoring our food.
Suddenly, I felt like if I didn’t ask now, I might never get the chance.
“Yuri. I’d like you to tell me about yourself soon. There was never a good moment to ask while we were walking earlier.”
“Munch… What do you want to know, Noah?”
“It’s obvious~ I’m talking about you, the one who only appears on foggy days. Why didn’t the other personalities know about your existence?”
Even the original Yuri seemed unaware of her.
She had clearly told me there were only four weather personalities.
I needed to hear the reason for this.