He patted my hand lightly, like he was trying to calm me down.
“I figured you’d need an explanation, so I came to tell you in person.”
“No, I don’t need an explanation. You’re some kind of alien who can do magic with a snap of your fingers, so just send me back to my real body. Please. If you want payment, I’ll give it.”
He stayed silent for a while, then averted his gaze like he was about to say something hard.
“I can’t do that.”
“…Why?”
“You can’t live as Juliet Karenina anymore.”
His voice was cold, firm — like no matter how much I begged or threw a fit, this reality wasn’t changing.
The strength left my hands as I let go of his collar.
“I get that you’re confused, but calm down and listen to me.”
I just stared at him blankly, then slowly sat down on the edge of the bed.
He followed me, stood there in front of me for a long moment, and finally spoke.
“My name is Wishit. I’m a spirit.”
“…?”
“The Decard Empire is protected by spirits, and most people in power are spirit masters who can command them. The Diollus Dukedom — Rubette’s family — is an old line of spirit masters. I was her contracted spirit.”
I didn’t really get what he was saying, but I listened like I was reading a fantasy novel.
All I’d gathered so far:
- This isn’t Earth.
- There are weird alien-magical beings here.
- This one’s name is Wishit.
“Spirits have different abilities. In my case, I’m basically… a ‘wish spirit.’”
“…An alien that grants wishes?”
“Close enough.”
“Wait. Don’t tell me the original owner of this body — Rubette — wished… to switch bodies with me?”
He stayed silent. Which meant… yes.
“Damn! Are you kidding me?!”
“Calm down.”
“Would you calm down? No one asked me! I just woke up in some random girl’s body in a weird world, and the first thing I get is kids making fun of me—”
“I get it. You were shocked. I’m sorry. But I’m her spirit. I have no choice but to obey her commands.”
“And why should I care? Do you even have a conscience? You basically stole my life for her!”
My chest tightened. I wanted to cry. I clutched my hair and gritted my teeth.
“Why me? How the hell did she even know about me from another world?”
And then… a memory hit me.
“…Pig Rubette?”
That creepy user who left weird comments on my SNS. Her username was Rubette. The last thing she’d posted was something about planning to die today. I knew then it wasn’t just a coincidence.
Wishit noticed my expression and nodded.
“Rubette wished to see the life of someone ‘perfect and admirable.’ She knew there were many worlds besides this one, and she was sick of hers. She wanted to peek into the life of someone completely different.”
“And you picked me to show her?”
“Yes. Your life was the closest to the life she had always dreamed about.”
“Ha… this is just great. If I’d done something to deserve this, I wouldn’t even complain. But this? Just bad luck?”
He stayed silent.
So this girl secretly spied on my life and then used alien magic to steal my body.
My heart was pounding with anger.
“Is she stupid? If she’s got a wish-granting alien, why not wish to be thin, or pretty, or get revenge on her bullies? Why steal my life?”
“Because you only get three wishes.”
“Wow. Lame.”
He sighed at my reaction, then said with a hint of pity:
“Let me finish. To explain why things are like this, I need to tell you about Rubette. She was… a very pitiful girl.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
I crossed my arms.
“No matter how pitiful she was, could she possibly be more pitiful than me — someone who lost everything overnight?”
“Rubette lived for 45 years under constant abuse. Before she died, she used her first wish.”
“Didn’t I say I don’t want to hear it—”
Then something didn’t add up.
“Forty-five years? She doesn’t look a day older than a middle schooler.”
“At 45, after being told she didn’t have long to live, she used her first wish — the one she’d been saving her whole life — to start over. She wanted to live her life again, from the beginning, differently.”
“Ah… so you rewound time for her? Back to now?”
“Yes. She’s fifteen now. I sent her back thirty years to when we first met.”
“Then she should’ve used that chance to change things. Why get bullied all over again? And why not just wish to be thin? I saw her comments on my SNS about how jealous she was of me being slim and beautiful.”
“She didn’t want to waste one of her three wishes on that. She always thought she’d lose weight herself… eventually.”
Wishit snapped his fingers, and something dropped onto my lap — an old diary. I opened it.
[Imperial Year 1519, Jan 1]
A new year has begun. From today, I’ll eat only one meal a day. This year, I will be thin. I want Cedric to ask me to dance.
[Mar 24]
I ate again. But the macarons from François’ Dessert Shop are too good. This is the last time.
[Apr 4]
Why am I not losing weight? I even ran for 30 minutes yesterday…
[May 6]
Today is really the last time I’ll eat. If I eat again tomorrow, I’m not even human.
[May 7]
I am not human.
[May 31]
I won’t give up. I’ll eat just for this month, then next month I’ll stop and work out hard.
[June 1]
It’s like someone else is controlling my body. I came to my senses, and it was all gone. There’s just too much delicious food in the world. But tomorrow, for sure…
“Ugh.”
I couldn’t read any more and tossed the diary to the corner of the bed.
“So let me get this straight. She used her first wish to turn back time, failed to lose weight out of pure lack of willpower, then used her second wish to spy on someone else’s life for satisfaction — mine?”
“Correct.”
“Don’t ‘correct’ me!”
Wishit looked away.
I honestly couldn’t figure out which part of her life I was supposed to pity. She was lazy, selfish, and now she’d stolen my body.
My temper snapped. I lunged at him, grabbing his collar.
“She’s ‘pitiful,’ so that makes it okay to steal my life? You think you can guilt-trip me with her sob story?”
He stayed silent.
“You idiot! Say something! Whatever she went through, it’s got nothing to do with me! She’s just a thief to me!”
His eyes turned sharp. He shoved my hand off and barked:
“Watch your mouth.”
“Ha.”
“You guessed right. Rubette used her last wish to swap bodies with you.”
His eyes flickered with sadness as he added:
“…With you, who had only ten minutes left to live.”
“…What?”
“Have you forgotten? Your last memory before waking up in Rubette’s body?”
“…”
“Do you really not remember how your life ended?”
“Ended? What are you talking about?”
I’d just finished my schedule, gone home, and fallen asleep. That was it.
Then a sharp headache pierced my skull.
“Oh… right.”
That wasn’t the end.
“I woke up… and someone’s hands… were around my neck—”
The memory I hadn’t even realized was missing started to creep back.
