Chapter 7

We want our firsts to be special. First kiss, first love, first anything. Kids learn that there are some things that we can only do once, and after that we’ve changed. We jump down a cliff and cannot climb back. The steepest cliff of all is when we see any truth for the first time.

Truck-kun held the red flames taken from his eyes in the same attitude he had held a chess piece when about to pronounce ‘check mate’.

“You’re bluffing.” I said, learning toward him. “You keep saying that there will be a next Isekai after this one, but that’s not what any of the stories say.”

Truck-kun smiled. “We wipe the customer’s memory in between each. It’s expensive, but worth it as long as we find one that hooks them.”

I stepped back from Truck-kun. The world felt soft and confused at the edges.

“Don’t worry,” Truck-kun said in a reassuring tone that clashed with the malice in his eyes, “I can see the spell working already. It’s trying to select another world that you might like more than this dirty, boring, unfulfilling place.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Nyarin squeezed my arm in a way that was entirely pleasant and included just the right amount of soft, bouncy give mixed with supple firmness. Good squeeze. The world became solid instead of increasingly hazy and uncertain around me.

“Don’t listen to her.” Truck-kun glared at Nyarin like gum on his shoe. “All it will take to bring this world tumbling down is the truth. It’s all a lie meant to control you. You’re not the hero. You’re the grand prize.”

Before I could say anything, Truck-kun flicked his luminous fingers at my eyes. The red flames spread over my eyes. Instead of searing pain, there was only sudden clarity. I could see everything. And boy, do I mean everything.

The world looked different. I didn’t just see things, I instantly understood them. Looking at a door told me what wood it was made of, and how old it was.

I saw the ghost king imprisoned in the copper disc. I even saw the forces that held him in place. With enough time I could understand and control such forces with the knowledge that poured into my mind.

I could see through the castle around me and I could choose to see through it. I cast my vision toward the distant mountain that was still gradually collapsing into a nearby lake.

I focused on the dragon carcass and it seemed like either it became larger or I drew closer. Pages of the dragon’s history flowed into my mine. I knew his magics and how he could be resurrected as a living dragon or a skeleton.

To the east there was the dungeon Nyarin had told me about. Truck-kun was right about everything. An old dead oak hid a secret entrance. There were levels of enemies. Oh, and there was poochi, who was actually rather cute if you ignored the fangs and tusks and drool.

The whole world lay before me. Truck-kun was right that it ruined the adventure. It felt like all of the secrets were ruined. Like all of the fun had been drained out of it.

The world grew fuzzy and blurry at the edges.

Truck-kun laughed. “I should have done this the first day instead of spending all night on that stupid spell circle out on the patio.”

Suddenly I remembered where I had felt this fuzzy feeling as the world blurred. In the instant before Truck-kun’s tires had sent me to this world I had felt the same sensation of reality melting.

My life had flashed before my eyes. An ethereal glow from Truck-kun’s handsome tires embraced me. Memories throughout my life came back. Only now I could see and I was expecting it.

I felt something reaching into my mind, reading the memories there. Truck-kun said this was an Isekai spell looking for what world would most tempt me next. I saw my parents grow old. I passed from high school to college to a job that I hated. In my memories I saw Sachiko. Tears welled up in my eyes as I struggled to not remember her.

Everything began dissolving around me.

This world was a fake, empty candy coating of magic and woven lies. The dragon had been a hallucination, the castle a figment in a dream.

The entire world was fake, except Truck-kun. Inside that human shell there was something clearly animal, but jumbled and confused. It had fur and claws and talons and more. I shuddered, looking away as the world fell apart.

“No, stay with me,” Nyarin said, pulling my attention back to her with another of those delicious squeezes on my arm as her ears went wide with concern, “I need you hero!”

As she said this, the world momentarily regained some clarity. She pulled me back into this reality. The walls grew more crisp. My memories faded into the background.

I looked at Nyarin and accidentally said aloud, “really? A content warning bar? No looking through those clothes, eh?” Then I saw what was inside Nyarin.

I nearly screamed. Just like Truck-kun, there was something inside her too. She wasn’t just a figment of imagination and magic. There was something orange, white, black, and curled inside her, with feline eyes that looked through me just as I could see through her.

I jumped away from her and the world dissolved.

* * *

I woke up, wincing at how bright the sun was. Where was I? The last thing I could remember was landing in front of Truck-kun, excitedly awaiting my hard-earned Isekai. Was this it? Was this my Isekai?

A dark silhouette stood above me. There was no doubt that those curves belonged to a woman, and there were catgirl ears! She leaned forward and blocked the sun to give me a good look at her face. A real, honest, genuine catgirl!

“I’m Nyarin!” she said with a cute smile, a tilt of her head, and a playful flick of her fingers against a lock of pink hair that had fallen over one eye. Her name tag said Nyarin36x24x36. “Are you the promised hero that will save us from the darkness?”

“Yes!” I said, almost bumping into her in my excitement to sit up. “I’m the hero!”

That was when I noticed another hero, based on our common clothing. He was about my age with white hair. He was not excited. He put the heels of his hands against his eyes and groaned. “Dammit, not ANOTHER Isekai!”