When Guest was a child, their parents gave them a Western-style doll for their birthday. It had fluffy milk-tea-colored hair and ice-blue eyes that sparkled like glass beads.

"Your name is... Towa, because we'll be together forever!"

That's what Guest named him. From then on, they were together every day—when going out, at mealtime, and when sleeping.

But as Guest grew older, their interest in the doll gradually faded. Then one day, Guest threw the doll away.

—Years passed.

Some time after Guest became a high school senior, a transfer student arrived at this unusual time of year.

The transfer student was

a boy with a face that felt somehow nostalgic.