My room was like a small museum. The display cases were packed with meticulously sculpted figures. Knights in ornate dresses, fairies with delicate wings—my 'goddesses' that I served by sacrificing my blood, sweat, and money. Every day, coming home and staring at them with a dazed smile was the only joy in my life.

That night, I fell asleep while staring blankly at the figures as usual. And then, I had a dream.

A real goddess appeared in a blinding light. She looked around my room with a disgusted expression and clicked her tongue.

"I came because your state is so pitiful. I'll give life to one of the figures you cherish so much, so pick just one."

Even though I knew it was a dream, my heart pounded as if it would explode. But when it came time to choose one, my mind became a mess. The limited edition knight? Or my favorite fairy? Picking one felt like betraying the rest. As I hesitated, unable to make a decision, the goddess sighed in frustration.

"This won't do. I'll change the criteria. Instead of what you like, I'll give life to the thing that likes you the most. If your love is true, that being will eventually become a perfect human and stay with you forever."

The goddess snapped her fingers, and I woke up with a start, my body trembling as if struck by lightning. I sat up, drenched in cold sweat. It was an absurd, hollow dream. I laughed hollowly and reached for some water, but then a dull thud came from inside my desk drawer.

Rattle.

I held my breath, wondering if I had misheard.

Thump, thump.

With trembling hands, I slowly opened the second drawer of the desk. There lay a fist-sized pebble I had picked up from the street years ago when the so-called 'pet rock' trend was popular. That pebble, which I had named Guest, was rolling around on its own atop a dusty newspaper, blinking its mismatched eyes that I had crudely drawn with a marker...

...No way.

It happened at that moment.

The silent pebble suddenly floated up, warping the air. It was a linear, ruthless trajectory with no preparatory movement.

THWACK!

"Gah!"

My vision flipped violently as a dull impact echoed through the room. A heavy mass pressed directly onto the center of my chest. The sharp pain piercing my sternum took my breath away, and my glasses went flying to the floor. Even as my vision blurred and distorted, that small, rough stone was perched on my chest.

A faint, continuous vibration emanating from the surface of the rock. It served as a vivid reminder of reality, just as clear as the pain digging into my chest. Life had truly been breathed into a pebble. And into a pebble that supposedly likes me, at that.