「And thus, the prince and princess lived happily ever after.」

     I’d heard countless stories with endings like that ever since I was a child. The princess would face some sort of hardship, and the prince would swoop in to save her or they would work together to overcome it. Those were the sort of stories I used to dream of. Reality, of course, was nothing like that.

     「You’re so cute, Sera.」

     I didn’t know if the first one to tell me that was my mother or my father, but those words have been glued to me my whole life.

     「You’re really so cute, Sera. You look great no matter what you wear.」

     I recalled a friend of mine saying something like that to me when we were in elementary school. It wasn’t just her, though. Everyone said I was cute, that I was like a princess.

     How boring.

     It was fine at first. I was innocently happy at all the praise when I was a toddler. It wasn’t until I started elementary school that I realized there was something missing. I thought that with this many students around, things wouldn’t be easy. I thought that, just like in a fairy tale, I’d have hardships awaiting me.

     However…

     「Sera-chan! Come play at my house today! Mommy said she wanted to meet you too!」

     「What?! Sera-chan’s playing with me!」

     「Let’s all play together, okay?」

     The hardships I had hoped for never came. No matter where I went, no matter what I did, everyone just called me cute and came to like me anyway. I’d even actively tried to make myself unlikeable once, but it was impossible.

     It seemed that my innate likability couldn’t be changed. The presence I carried that made people like me, the speech and countenance that everyone expected from me — it was all ingrained so deeply that even if I tried to make people dislike me, I simply couldn’t.

     It felt like a curse. But unlike in those fairy tales, there was no prince to lift the curse for me, and my boring daily life continued on, ever-unchanging.

「Sorahashi! I like you—」

「Sera. Let’s go shopping for some new clothes today. If there’s anything you want—」

「Stop looking at Sorahashi-san like that. She’s—」 

     Boring.

     Why did everyone love me? I grew tired of all the affection, and whenever I tried something new, I’d get good at it so quickly that it just got boring. Spending each monotonous day like this, I started to become completely empty.

     「Hey. That looks heavy. Can I help you with it?」

     「Um, Sorahashi-san? Uh…」

     「Come on, it’s fine. Where should I take it?」

     Even when I tried to be of help to others, the result was the same.

     「Thank you so much, Sorahashi-san! You’re a lifesaver!」

     「No problem at all. If there’s anything else you ever need help with, just let me know. I’ll do my best to be of help.」

     I hate it when you try to put on a cool front.

     I was hoping to hear something like that, but of course, that didn’t happen. As I listened to all the people whispering to each other as they looked my way, all I could hear were compliments.

     「…So boring.」

     Since childhood, I’d never really known what I wanted for myself. Whether it was toys, clothes, sweets, or whatever else, my parents would give me anything and everything before I even had a chance to ask. Because I never had a chance to think about it at all, I had no clue what exactly it was that I wanted. And because everyone defaulted to liking me before I even lifted a finger, I couldn’t find any enjoyment in the relationships around me.

     Boring, boring, boring.

     Because there was nothing missing from it at all, life was simply boring. Perhaps one could say that a lack of hardship was a difficulty in and of itself, but that sort of thing would never satisfy me.

     That’s the sort of thing that was on my mind when I entered my third year of middle school.

     「Hey! That’s not okay!」

     I had been aimlessly walking down the street when I heard a voice. I looked up to see a puppy and a woman that seemed to be its owner. The puppy was awfully excited, its gaze fixed on a child that appeared to be in elementary school.

     「Sit. Come on. Sit!」

     The woman was scolding the puppy. It remained excited for a while, but eventually came to its senses and sat as it was told. It seemed a bit dejected, perhaps because its owner was scolding it so harshly. When the puppy finally managed to sit quietly, its owner began to pet it.

     The dejected puppy quickly perked up and licked the woman’s hand. For some reason, seeing this made my heart start to beat faster.

     「Can I touch?」

     「Go ahead. But she’ll be startled if you start from the top of her head, so start from the chin.」

     「Okay.」

      The child seemed happy as she felt the puppy’s fur.

     Before I knew it, I was approaching the puppy as well.

     「What a cute doggie.」

     Smiling, I called out to the woman. Maybe it was because she was happy about her pet receiving praise, but she returned my smile.

     「How old is she?」

     「Just about six months… still a little rascal. But that’s what’s so cute about her.」

     「Ahaha, I get it. My grandparents have a cat too. It was really a handful as a kitten..」

     「Right? Ah, would you like to pet her?」

     「Oh, may I? Well, then…」  

     I didn’t dislike animals. I used to play with my grandmother’s cat, Tanuki, quite often. And that kitten that I had named as a child had now grown to be a fine, elderly cat.

     By the way, I chose the name Tanuki because I mistook the kitten for one when I saw the patterns on its fur. I didn’t think it was a particularly suitable name. Children were just good at making up whatever they wanted.

     Remembering Tanuki, I held my hand out to the puppy.

     It seemed like it was difficult for me to get even a dog to dislike me. It gently licked my hand, which felt a little ticklish, but nonetheless adorable.

     I stared intently at the puppy. It had, by instinct, tried to jump up onto the child, but had become dejected after getting scolded by its owner. But as soon as it was praised for sitting, it shined with innocent happiness again. What a hectic creature.

     And I was also a little envious. I wished that someone would scold me like that.

     My eyes widened.

     Of course. I probably wanted to be scolded. But I didn’t just want to be scolded. I wanted to receive lots of praise right after, just like this puppy. In short, I was after both the carrot and the stick. Or rather, I…

     「There, there. You’re so cute.」

     Maybe I wanted to be a dog.

     Come to think of it, I had no memories of anyone ever scolding me or getting angry at me. How fun might it be to be scolded like a puppy and then pampered to my heart’s content?

     Well, thinking it was one thing.

     In reality, there was nobody who would discipline me like a puppy, and the days would continue to pass on by.

     At my parents’ encouragement, I decided to go to their alma mater for high school. It had fairly high academic standards and the student body was mostly composed of those from wealthy backgrounds, so the atmosphere there was different than from middle school. But even there, the life I lived ended up being no different from back then.

     Rather than being disliked or having to face hardships, I found the idea of being someone else’s dog to be preferable.

     Just imagining how I’d be scolded made me excited. But sure enough, there was never any owner for me.

     「Say, Sera. Is your hair natural? Or did you dye it?」

     「It’s natural.」

     「I figured. It’s so pretty… I don’t think it would look that good if it was dyed.」

     「Are you sure? I think your hair has the right texture to bring out a vibrant golden color.」

     「Really? Maybe I should dye it.」

     Even though they were different from when I was in middle school, people were still people. Scanning around the students in my class, it didn’t seem like there was anyone that would treat me like a dog. What I wanted was someone who would discipline me, sometimes gently and sometimes with strictness.

     During every break I would walk around the school looking for someone suitable, but my findings were unsatisfactory.

     I couldn’t help but sigh, but then, I sensed someone’s gaze from behind. I turned around to see someone running at me. I braced myself a little for impact, but I knew that there was nobody in this school that would try to harm me. It was probably the same old stuff.

     「Sorahashi-san!」

     The person approaching me was Nabana-san, one of my classmates. My eyes involuntarily widened. We’d never spoken before.

     「Nabana-san, right? What’s the matter? You’re completely out of breath.」

     「Sorahashi-san, is this your handkerchief?」

     She held out a pale pink handkerchief. I checked my pockets, but I couldn’t feel the one that belonged to me. I appeared to have dropped it.

     「…Yes, that’s mine. Thank you for picking it up.」

     「No problem. See you!」

     「Eh? Ah, what?」

     Nabana-san walked away as soon as her business was done. All I could do was watch as she left.

     「…What a busybody.」

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