Our Worlds, Shockingly Close To Each Other

I had just returned home from the city library. It was a Saturday, a weekend with nothing to do, so I decided to spend the day borrowing some novels and manga. It didn't take me long, and now I was back in my apartment.

「Haaahhh... Good to be back home. But now... I'm hungry.」

Yup, I was hungry. I hadn't realized it was nearly noon.

With that, I decided to go out and head straight to the convenience store near my apartment. It was only a three-minute walk. It was really just very close. The convenience store where Kizuki-san worked was about a fifteen-minute walk from here.

Before long, I arrived at the store to buy some ready-to-cook food. My parents had left me here all alone and told me to learn to cook for myself. I had tried once and failed, leaving me traumatized. I wasn't going to do that again, really. It was a devastating failure that I experienced. 

So here I was, settling for ready-to-cook convenience store food. All need to do is just microwave it and done. Making rice was easy enough with a rice cooker.

Shortly after, I had a basket filled with ready-to-cook meals and some drinks, ready to restock my refrigerator. I headed to the counter to pay and left the convenience store.

「Well, it looks like I won't be leaving my room for a while today.」

That was my life during weekends without classes. If my refrigerator was full and I had plenty of unread books, I would hole up in my apartment all day long. Saturday and Sunday would just be me, staying inside my beloved nest. That's how my introverted life went every single weekend, or even every single day.

As I was walking toward my apartment, I heard two familiar voices behind me. I thought I was just imagining things, so I ignored them and continued on my way home.

But unfortunately... maybe I should have looked back at that time. Maybe I could've changed the outcome or not? Who knows... But...

Because not long after that, something quite surprising happened.

I walked up the stairs to my apartment, as usual, and reached the floor where my apartment was located. And shortly after, I was in front of my door. 

Since it was locked, I put down the groceries I was holding with both hands to get my keys. I took them from my pocket, and just as I was about to open the door...

There. That surprising thing happened right in front of me.

「Eh? Hoshi— Isn't that you, Yoshino? It's nice to see you here!」The outgoing girl I had just made friends with not long ago, Kiyo, was greeting me.

Beside her was Ao, staring at me with a shocked expression.

I was equally shocked, unable to respond. It took me a few minutes to process the situation when Kiyo dropped a bombshell neither Ao nor I was expecting.

「To think you two are neighbors, Ao! Why didn't you tell me you were neighbors in the first place?!」Kiyo asked Ao, who was also still in shock.

I became even more shocked by her statement.

What does she mean by that?! I thought.

I was so confused by what she said that I couldn't seem to get my senses back. What on earth was going on?!

「Hello? Ao? Yoshino? Come back to earth, both of you!」Kiyo said, trying to snap us out of it. But we couldn't. This was something neither of us had ever expected. It was as if our brains had short-circuited, completely unable to process the situation.

And then, after a few minutes, I realized. Someone had moved into the apartment next to mine not long ago. The person who moved in had left a gift in front of my doorstep as a greeting, so I never knew who it was.

But... I never thought that person was Ao Kizuki.

To think she was my neighbor, and we had never known until now... It was both shocking and amazing at the same time.

「Heyyy! You two, come back to earth!」

Despite Kiyo trying her best to bring us back to our senses, we were still too confused to process it all.

With that, I found out one new thing... my world and Ao's world were, all this time... 

Were shockingly close to each other.

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Note from the Author:

Hello there readers!

Sorry for the late upload of this chapter. I've been on a two-week break and with that, I seem to have been dealing with a bit of writer's block. I'm still working on getting back on track, so I appreciate your understanding. I'll make sure to deliver some great stories in the upcoming chapters!

Thank you for your patience!

- Novel Writer Yoshino
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