Prologue
"Is this... a dream?"
The world spread out before my eyes was drowned in white—a pure, unbroken white. Even the sky and the ground were blanketed in it. If this wasn't a dream, then what else could it be?
"It's gotta be a dream—ow."
I pinched my cheek between my fingers, and it hurt. If I could feel pain, then this was no dream, at least. Honestly, I had never been more utterly at a loss.
At first I denied it, telling myself this couldn't be reality. As time crawled on, anger welled up in me—why on earth was I here? But no matter how furious I got, in the end I had no choice but to admit that this was real. At last I started looking around. If this truly was reality, a white void like this couldn't possibly stretch on forever.
"—Ah!"
It wasn't long before I caught sight of something that wasn't white. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing straight, then looked again, dead on. I hadn't imagined it. I broke into a run toward whatever it was.
What I found, breathless at the end of that sprint, was the back of a two-seater sofa. Why a sofa should be sitting out here was a mystery, but I could tell at least this much: someone was on it. In a place overflowing with questions, there was another person besides me. Was I supposed to call that lucky, or unlucky?
I caught my breath and slowly walked around to the front of the sofa to look at whoever was sitting there.
"—!!!"
A person sat on the sofa. Someone I could hardly bring myself to call a person. Yes.
A goddess was sitting there.
I knew I had to speak first, but my body had locked stiff and wouldn't move. And then the goddess looked up at me.
Pupils red as rubies. The moment those eyes fixed on me, my whole body went rigid as stone. Or so I thought. It was only in my head. I forced myself to move, stepped up before the goddess—before her—and dropped to one knee, holding out my hand with the palm turned up.
"Please go out with me."
???
I was twenty-one. Young, sure, but not some clueless kid. I was an adult, perfectly capable of acting like a rational person, and what I had just done was anything but rational. I couldn't control myself at all. If there was a reason, it was the being in front of me. The goddess.
"No."
"......"
That one short word made it feel as if my body and my heart were both caving in. But then, what woman would ever like me? Ugly, short, and hopeless at studying. I had to face reality. I pulled myself together in a hurry.
"......What?"
What did I just hear? Did I mishear her? Maybe sitting in this pure-white space had done something to my head.
"Your wife, I said. You don't want to?"
"...Ah. Yes! Ah—no! If someone like me is all right with you, I'd gladly take you as my wife!"
At my answer the goddess broke into a happy smile and laid her hand over my open palm. What kind of face was I making then?
I took the goddess(?) as my wife, and at her invitation I sat down in the spot beside her. I knew I ought to say something, but I was so nervous the words wouldn't come.
"——...name...—— I never said it, did I?"
"Ah—ah. Yes!"
I was wound so tight I couldn't even make out what the goddess had said. All I managed to register was that she had spoken.
"...You're far too tense."
"Th-that's—ah."
She reached out and set her hand on my chest. At the sudden touch, my body—the tension just let go?
"Better now?"
"Ah, yes. I'm all right."
Her hand left my chest, and unlike a moment ago, I wasn't tense at all. Was this that healing touch I'd only ever heard about?
"Good. But we're husband and wife. Don't you think you're being awfully stiff with me? Weren't you going to take me as your wife?"
"O-of course, as my wife...... Is someone like me—like that—really all right?"
"Don't put yourself down. And the one who's here—"
She broke off, caught my cheek in her hand, and turned my face aside, toward where she sat.
I had no idea what she was talking about, but I knew the line I was supposed to give.
"Yes. I understand."
"That stiff attitude won't do, and neither will that way of speaking. We're married, so you ought to talk to me comfortably, don't you think?"
"......Yes—no. Got it."
At that short answer—got it—she looked satisfied and let her hand fall from my face.
"Then, once more. My name is Stella Pia. Stella is my surname, and Pia is my given name. I'm counting on you from here on."
The goddess's name was Stella Pia. Just hearing it, it sounded completely foreign. Unfortunately, I wasn't very good with foreign names.
"Ah, I...... I'm Kim Haseong. Kim is the surname, and Haseong is the given name. I'm counting on you too."
"Counting on you from here on, Haseong!"
"M-me too. P-Pia."
At that, the goddess—Pia—smiled. I smiled with her. Then, all of a sudden, she clapped her hands.
"Right. I should tell you this, too. Haseong, don't be shocked when you hear what I really am."
"What you really are?"
"What I am. What you are is a human. A person."
"Uh... that's right, isn't it?"
Human and person were both perfectly correct. Still, was there any need to go out of her way to call me a human, or a person?
"What I am is a vamp—... does 'vampire' fit better?"
She murmured something under her breath. I thought she'd ducked her head, and then she was looking at me again.
A vampire? An Administrator? And more than that—the word she'd started and then cut off. Had that been vampire?
"...That's... really something?"
"You're less shocked than I thought."
"It's not that I wasn't shocked... I can't even feel that we're married yet."
The fact that Pia and I were husband and wife didn't feel real in the slightest. And piled on top of that, whether she was a vampire or an Administrator, none of it reached me.
"...I was sure you'd be shocked. I'm glad you aren't. But! You do have to take it in that we're married, understand?"
"Ah, got it."
She laughed at my answer and rose from the sofa.
"Good. The truth is, I want to stay with you longer, Haseong, but it's about time I have to go."
"Time to go? You're not staying here?"
"Of course not. And don't worry. We'll see each other again soon."
Pia looked at me, and her face began to draw nearer and nearer. There wasn't even a spare second to panic over what was happening. Her lips touched mine, and then they were gone.
"...P-Pia?"
"Haseong. I love you."
"I—I love you too!"
Pia smiled.
"Thank you. I love you."
With those words, my eyes began to close.
When I opened my eyes, it was my ordinary home. I sat up in my ordinary bed. The one thing that was different was the tears running from my eyes.
"......"
I remembered everything that had happened in the dream.