The spring sunlight is strangely dazzling.

Who could have imagined the transformation of the person standing before the full-length mirror?

Black hair grown past the waist with pink highlights. Carefully crafted cat-eye eyeliner, blush calculated to look healthy. The uniform fits the body perfectly, with no trace of the former self whose "uniform was bursting at the seams."

The cross earrings swayed coldly every time they touched my cheek.

"...I'm not nervous or anything."

I muttered that to my reflection in the mirror.

(Liar. My hands are shaking. My heart is pounding so hard it hurts.)

Can a person really change this much?

Strict dieting, evening runs, stretches continued until midnight, makeup research notes scribbled even in the margins of textbooks. The tears I showed no one, the loneliness I told no one—I built it all up for today.

(No one remembers me, right? They don't remember, do they...?)

I donned my combat uniform and put on my earrings one by one.

Thinking that I must become strong, stronger.

"...Shall we go, Meme-chan?"

I carefully tucked my partner into my bag.

I put on my shoes at the entrance and left the house. Cherry blossom petals danced in the wind, one landing on the shoulder of my uniform. I brushed it away with my fingertip as if shaking it off.

A new school. A new me. A place where no one knows the middle school version of me who was always slouching and looking down.

I passed through the school gates. I felt the gazes of the buzzing freshmen turn toward me for just a moment.

(They're looking. ...But it's not the gaze of being laughed at like usual.)

"...Ridiculous."

That small mutter wasn't directed at anyone. It was just like a lucky charm to scold my trembling self.