Right or wrong, perspective dictates much of the public awareness of anything and everything.  This perception is not limited to whether something exists or not, but many other qualities.  A poorly informed piece of popular media can make wild animals seem more or less dangerous than they actually are; misrepresent scientific fact as fiction or vice versa; or even vilify decent people.

It was the perspective of the student body of Minegahara High School that cast Azusagawa Sakuta as a dangerous, violent individual.  Whether the rumor of the infamous “hospitalization incident”, where he allegedly got into a fight with and sent three classmates to the hospital, was true or not didn’t matter.  With so many of his classmates perpetuating the rumor, most of the student body treated it as the truth.  Likewise, it was the unspoken agreement to respect the privacy of Sakurajima Mai that created an environment where polite people had to actively try to ignore her if they recognized her in public.

But what about when a single individual’s perspective is the principal factor in how the world perceives them?  Like when Futaba Rio convinced herself that those around her would prefer a slightly different version of herself?  Or Makinohara Shouko’s wish to become an adult when she couldn’t believe she could live long enough to see that future?

With a strong enough desire, these perspectives can take on a life of their own in the public eye, and while not a widely known phenomenon, it is very much real.  From vanishing as if never existing, to creating a doppelgänger of yourself, to projecting your future self into the present, there is a mysterious force that can turn a person’s life on its head without warning, and the public at large continues to operate none the wiser.

Because if the rest of the world accepts someone's perspective as the truth, what is real and what is delusion?

A foreign convict gets adopted by a mentally unstable socialite.