Cinderella wa Sagasanai.

Chapter 1

Prologue

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Author Note:

● Introduction

The contents are different for the Web Novel, Light Novel, and Manga. be careful.

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I felt like someone was looking down from the sky.

Sunday.

Of course, the high school in the city is closed, and I, "Araki Jin", am not in the club activities, so of course there is no reason to go to high school.

At such times, it was a good day for housework. There are many sale items on holidays.

On the way back, I went to the supermarket for a bargain, aiming for a combination technique with the time sale.

I was walking on the south side of the station with my little sister who went on to elementary school safely this year.

Bean sprouts, chicken breast, various vegetables that can be stored for a long time, and various seasonings... It can be said that the results of the war are sufficient.

"Wow!"

My younger sister, Mai, admired it because she saw a 50-storey tower apartment up close.

It seems that it was finally completed at the end of last month, and now the resident's moving rush. Even after the evening, there were lines of moving trucks around the condominium.

"It's really big when you look at it nearby! Onii-chan! It's amazing!"

"That's right ..., when I look up, my neck is sick. I don't know who I live in."

The total population is about 600,000.

The core city of Tokyo, "Himehachi".

The condominium built adjacent to the station located in the center of the city where a lot of green remains is certainly convenient.

However, it didn't seem like a place where people lived.

Well, I guess I'm living in an Onboro apartment, but... but the minerality of the building that stretches high in the sky is cold, and at least I don't want to live.

Of course, I don't have hundreds of millions of yen.

"Onii-chan, I'm scared of high places!"

"……Yes."

Well, the reason is different for each person.

The circumstances are different for each person.

There may be various circumstances even for people living in this condominium.

From a distance, I could hear the train departure bell and announcement vaguely as if wrapped in a film.

The area around Himehachi Station is divided into two parts, north and south, by a railroad that connects the city center to other prefectures.

It is mainly the north exit that is developing.

According to the story of an old man living in an apartment, redevelopment has progressed rapidly because everything on the north side was burnt down by the air raids during the war.

All of them are concrete commercial and business buildings, and you can't find a place to live if you don't walk a little.

On the other hand, at the south exit where there is an Onboro apartment where I live, a tower condominium is finally starting to be built, but it seems that old-fashioned houses are still quietly built between the buildings.

When I was in elementary school, there was an old man who never let go of a small field.

It is the result of avoiding the damage caused by the air raid.

Well, I don't know if that's the real reason for the delay in development.

Until you actually check it, you don’t know the truth, right?

The picture book that Mai read at night is always a simple and clear setting.

The prince saves the princess and the monster is exterminated.

But in reality, the prince may be a bad guy.

Actually, a monster may save the princess.

……Why isn't it?

"What kind of people live on the top? It's big, so it looks like a castle!"

Already past the mansion, Mai twisted her body and looked up at the tower mansion.

"Hey, you'll fall. It's dangerous, look ahead."

"...It's like a castle!"

"Found it! found it!"

This girl hasn't had a mother for a long time, so she was brought up by a duo of my father and me. Perhaps because of that, she is hungry for the information that makes up the girl component.

Even so, isn't it a little too inorganic for a castle?

No, in the case of fairy tales, the princess may be imprisoned, and considering that, it certainly looks like this building is confining people.

While urging me to say, "Hey, I'll go fast", I went out with the story to satisfy Mai. Because I can only do that.

"Well, if this is really a castle..., isn't it the princess who lives on the top floor?"

"Oh, that's right! It's a castle!"

"Oh. There are princesses and princes in the castle."

"Then is the prince here too?"

"How about it. I don't know."

"But Mai wants to see the princess more than the prince. Mai, I want to enter here...? What about you, Onii-chan? Want to see the princess?"

"Yeah. But before that, first of all, it's time to dinner at home."

"Yes……"

A hand that pulls strongly. A little guilty feeling.

I understand Mai's feelings…… but we can't enter the castle.

I don't know if it was decided when it was born or because of their actions after that, but I can't be a prince and Mai can't be a princess.

Pumpkins don't become carriages, and witches don't come to help.

It is better not to get involved from the beginning than to dream.

This is one of my theories.

"Princess... I want to see you..."

While giving an appropriate aizuchi to the words of Mai who muttered, I think, "It's been a nuisance."

This condominium.

As expected, it has only 50 floors, so no matter what the weather, you can worship from your room on the second floor of the apartment.

Therefore, I'm sure this story will continue even after I get home, and it won't end tomorrow, and I think it will continue for the rest of my life unless the apartment collapses.

……Or until Mai knows the reality?

I looked up at the tower apartment where the princess lived, pulling my little sister's hand.

And I think--.

It's something that has nothing to do with us, and I hope it doesn't disturb our lives.

Hey, Princess.

What?

◇ ◇

However, it was a little different.

Certainly the princess lived on the top floor of the tower apartment.

But we.... and by extension it never had anything to do with me.

The world was'nt as simple as I thought.

Even monsters save people.