2 Summoning

The next night, Tatsumi had the same dream again.

And upon waking up, Tatsumi stared at the ceiling and recalled the dream once again .

Yes, it was a surreal dream. In fact, it was realistic enough that he could even remember it in detail. And somehow, it was growing more and more realistic as days went by.

In a dim, basement-like room, the holy maiden was dedicated intently in her prayers as always.

But in todays dream, he saw how desperately she has been praying.

Floating on that snow white virginal skin were beads of sweat. Before long, they began to drip from her face and hit the stone floor below with a dripping sound.

Yes, Tatsumi could remember even those tiny details clearly.

Why. Why do I keep having this dream. Tatsumi muttered while looking up at the ceiling.

To keep experiencing the same dream so frequently, there must be a reason.

It was a very common pattern, as if someone was calling him, Tatsumi thought Its the so-called pre- summoning pattern.

But unlike light novels and comics, something so illogical cant possibly be true.

To begin with, he had no reason to be summoned. Tatsumi had no advantages anywhere, as he was just a normal 16 year old boy.

Certainly, in many lights novels, a Princess from a different world will call upon a random hero to save her world. It was a common setting. But for it to happen to himself wasnt something Tatsumi thought was possible.

Rather than that, Tatsumi himself knew that he could not continue grieving like this. He has to face forward and move on with his life.

While telling himself that, Tatsumi sluggishly got out of bed.

Since hed dropped out of school, he thought itd be best if he went out and tried to find a part-time job. While thinking about this, he washed his face and changed his clothes.

He thought that he should buy a magazine or something from the convenient store and start his search for a part-time job.

But as he thought of that, at the corner of his eye, he saw the now empty birdcage that Chiiko no longer dwelled in. As he did, the sadness and despair from when he lost her once again started to rise up in him.

The many pleasant times Tatsumi had enjoyed with Chiiko kept on playing in his mind repeatedly.

And then, he realized that Chiiko was gone forever.

Once this happened, it became useless for him to do anything. The sorrow from her loss overwhelmed him again, and it was now impossible for him to do anything.

Since Chiiko had passed away, he no longer had any appetite and did not cook any meals. Instead, all he ate the were instant food that he had stocked up from the convenient store.

So once again, without doing anything else, Tatsumi had spent all of his time holed up in his apartment today.

He stared at the screen of his phone, looking at the photos of his family and of Chiiko that he took. While doing this, he had picked up the guitar that had been leaning against the side of his bed, for some reason, and began to play it subconsciously.

This guitar was an acoustic guitar

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and it was a memento of his late father. When he was younger, his father had played it for Tatsumi, and then gave it to him as a gift.

In his youth, Tatsumis father had put together a band and had earnestly aimed at being a professional guitarist. In the end, he abandoned his dreams. I was doing well at it, had been a phrase his father liked to say.

His father also taught him how to play the guitar, and was able to do it to some extent. But of course, he didnt have the ability to be a professional.

He began to strum it without any thought.

Now that I think about it, Chiiko used to accompany me with her chirps Recalling this, a dark mood washed over Tatsumi once again.

In the past, when Chiiko was still alive and healthy, whenever he played the guitar like he was now, Chiiko matched his tune with her chirping, as if to sing along with it.

While reminiscing those lost days, Tatsumi began to play calmly.

Suddenly, at that moment, a bright light began to emit from the surroundings of his bed. But bed only had pillows and the bedsheet on top of it. There was no source of light on it that could emit such a strong light.

Despite this, there was a sudden and mysterious luminescence that was coming from his bed.

The reason for this was unknown. but none the less, Tatsumi had to squint his eyes at the sudden surge of radiance. Rather, he had no choice but to do that at the sudden appearance of this phenomenon.

As Tatsumi did that, the light continued to dance wildly and began to turn silver. But, he felt no heat from the light. Rather than heat, the somewhat dazzling light gave of a soft feeling of holiness.

And when all of his surroundings had turned completely dyed silver, Tatsumi noticed something below him.

It appeared to be composed of geometric patters, with strange writing and symbols surrounding the patterns.

The patterns of light shone even brighter than the dazzling light around him. With Tatsumis limited knowledge, he thought that it was strangely similar to magic circles.

But at that moment, the brightness overwhelmed him, and contrary to the radiance around him, Tatsumis mind fell into darkness.

Slowly, Tatsumi tried to