Prologue

"Mama, are you... not going to... open the bakery?"

"There's no way I do that, Annette! Your illness is getting even worse than before!"

"Annette... will be... fine. *cough* *cough*"

"You're not fine at all! Please, let mama tend you until you're healthy again. *sob*"

"Please... don't cry, mama. Annette... also saddened... when mama cry. *cough*"

"Then please, stay strong and hope that you'll be healthy again. Mama doesn't want to lose you after papa died protecting this town. Promise? *sob*"

"Promise. And, mama...?"

"Yeah?"

"Annette... want to apologize... for being a bad... and needy girl, like... demanded you... to get a birthday present... for me."

"You're not a bad girl, Annette! It's normal for a parent to try to make their children happy."

"*sob* Thank you... *sob* Mama..."

xxxxx

I opened my eyes tiredly and looked at my surrounding, which I found out that I'm still in my small apartment. It seems that I've been asleep while playing an otome game called 'The Light of Hope' on my pc, recommended by my friend. And it's still on.

The name needs a lot of working, but I've been engrossed by it. Reason: There are three secret endings, the reverse-harem ending, the dark lady ending, and a still unknown ending.

The reverse-harem ending is where the main heroine, default name Rei, conquered all the captured targets and befriended with the villainess. The happiest ending in my opinion, but it kept the kingdom, Arkite, still a mystery.

The dark lady ending is the best ending, in my opinion. It will explore more about Rei's pasts, her desire to revenge against the kingdom's monarchy, and its conspiracy. At the ending, Arkite Kingdom has been destroyed and Rei become a wanderer to start her new life, without any captured targets.

The last secret ending is still unknown, but some players in its forum assumed that player must trigger dark lady route and try to find a branch on it. Even saying that it's a yuri ending with the villainess.

While I was playing that game, I got too exhausted until asleep. While asleep, I dreamed about her again.

I thought I won't dream about that girl, Annette, since the first time I dreamed about her. But every time I sleep or take a nap, I dreamed about her again. And I still can't see her face or everyone around her.

My dreams about her were segmented and random, but it's when she was between two until six years old. Because of that dream, I quite understand about her background.

Her name is Annette Mana. She's a daughter of a captain of the town guards and a famous baker. She also has an adopted big sister too, I assume three to four years older than her. From her environment, like no electricity and houses made from stones and good quality timbers, I assume she lives in a post-medieval age.

But her world is not like Earth's medieval age. Her world has some... fantasy genre, like in most novels, including light novels. What I mean fantasy is monsters are exists, but I'm still not sure if magic also exist in there.

There's some connection between her life and monsters. When she was four, her father died protecting the town from monster stampede. Because of his death, her mother worked extra hard at her bakery, even overworking herself.

When Annette turned five, her big sister decided to help their mother by either helping her or doing a lot of odd jobs, like dismantling monsters, if what I heard from that dream was right.

Since Annette is still a child, she thought that her mother and big sister neglected her. So, in order to gain their attention, she's turned into a... needy and bratty child... I guess? Like she wanted a stuffed animal for her sixth birthday. But if she didn't get her present, she will be sulking every day and doesn't want to talk to her family.

Since they hate seeing her like that, they tried to make a cat stuffed animal from scratch because Annette likes cats very much. When they gave their stuffed animal to her, which turned out to be an... indescribable-looking creatures, she's still accepted it and thanked them since her beloved family made it for her.

Two weeks after she got her presents, she's started to fell ill with an unknown disease. The traits of her diseases were coughing and fever. Her mother called a lot of alchemists, shamans, and priestess to cure and find out about her illness, but the result were incurable.

A month since she fell ill, her mother and big sister always encouraged her to never give up from her illness. But Annette thought that it was her punishment for being a needy and bratty girl, and she will accept any kind of fate awaiting her.

That's the explanation I got and understood about her, and I can't help but feel bad for her.

She's a fatherless child who wanted her remaining family's attention, but they overworked themselves like slaves, which make her felt like they neglected her.

Then she got a mysterious incurable illness, which dishearten them. And she's in a life or death situation.

I'm still curious about her, since I didn't get any dream when she's already cured or has reached seven years or older.

As an orphan, I couldn't help but felt sympathetic toward her, and at the same time jealous too.

For a sixteen years old girl like me, being jealous at a six years old girl like Annette feels stupid, right? I mean, she still has a family who loves her dearly. Unlike me, whose parents died mysteriously, and got an abusive aunt and a good-for-nothing uncle as my guardian for my middle school life. And after I graduated from middle school, they decided to kick me out from their house.

And here I am, living in a small and dark apartment room, evading from the press who wanted to squeeze any information about the recent hot news on my high school from me and playing a lot of games to calm myself, either it's otome game, eroge, MMORPG, or any kind of games.

But if I got bored from it, I read manga or light novel for it, even fan published works, or known as doujinshi, too.

Simply put... I, Yoshikawa Yuko, lived my life as a (temp) shut-in or NEET.