I will be different.

The sun hung high as if it had just remembered it was supposed to be rising. The weather was pleasant, neither too hot nor too cold. The streets buzzed with people. Is today a holiday? This looks like a commercial part of the city.

What do I even do in this fake world... hehe, my world.

Ah! After thousands of hours of RPGs I know the checklist: find a guild. If this illusion follows what I believe, there has to be one.

I walk down the crowded street and my God, it’s all so realistic.
Every tree, every passerby, the air, the dust motes in the sunlight, the wooden façades, even the birds wheeling above. How can I tell this apart from the real thing?

Okay, focus! Time to gather information.

That fruit seller over there at a market stall looks like a good target. Nobody’s buying from him right now.

I approach slowly.

“H-hey, sir…”

Fuck, why am I stuttering?!

“Ah? Kid, are you a foreigner?”

W-what? How did he—

“Why d’you think that?”

He crossed his arms and spoke with a deep voice.

“Your clothes. Definitely not common here.”

Ah. My clothes. They’re the same I had on when I died.

A baby-blue hoodie with “PT” next to a skull print. A red turtleneck underneath. A simple black sports jacket tied around my waist (yes, I’m very sensitive to cold). Baggy black cargo pants with lots of pockets that cover my socks. Black sneakers with laces and grey soles.

For the record: I’m sixteen, 176 cm, 72 kg, a healthy, average build. Medium-length, messy black curls, bangs that sit just above my eyes. Dark brown, almost black, eyes. I doubt I even have a visible iris. Not ugly, not handsome. To be honest, I never bother much with looks.

No wonder he thinks I’m an outsider.

“W-well… maybe? Is that a problem?”

“No. Customer is customer. What do you want?”

He sells fruit. What do I even ask for?

Apple, orange, pear — wait.

I’M NOT HERE FOR FRUIT.

“N-no, sir. Not that.”

I take a breath.

“Suppose I am an outsider. What’s this place called? What’s the currency? Is there a guild here?”

Silence.

“THEN GET OUT!!”

He literally kicked me out.

Sigh. I just wanted the city name, the money name, or whether there’s a guild. If he’s like that, what are the chances anyone else will be helpful?

What now…

I wander and end up in a small wood at the city’s edge.
I lie down on the grass "Buahhh, I'm kinda tired..."

Wait, how am I tired in an illusion?

My brain decided my body needed a fatigue response. How thoughtful.

The sky is such a clean blue...

I have no plan. I just walked until I found trees.

“PCHIU!! PTCHIU!!!” A distant crackle snaps through the trees.

“Huh? What’s that?”

Lightning? Another crack “PCHIU!!” coming from my right.
I head toward the noise.

I push through the undergrowth and emerge onto a broad open field. Two figures, wizards by the looks of it, are trading blows with their staves, each one spitting that same crackling “PCHIU!” light. One in deep blue, one in black.

They’re far off, I can’t make out faces. The field drops away steeply from where I stand, and between me and the fighters is a low stand of bushes I can easily clamber over.

And...

“H-hey?”

Why is there a woman crouched behind the bushes, frozen, watching the duel!?
She raises a finger to her lips.

“Shush! Get down!”

“C-could you tell me what’s going on… please?”

“Get down!”

I crouch beside her.

Should I talk to her? D-Do I approach? This is an illusion, right? S-So—

“Come closer.”

“O-okay.”

Fuck, I forgot I’m afraid of women!

Wait, h-hahaha, I'm talking to one!

...I'm so fucked up

She doesn’t look away from the fight, extremely attentive.

“You see that? It’s a duel between two wizards.”

“I-I can tell…”

“They’re both extremely powerful! A real show.”

“You know them?”

“Of course! The blue one, Lisa, the strongest wizard in all of Holtmark.”

Holtmark, a name. Good.

"That's the city right?"

A bit of silence.

"...Yeah?"

That was probably a stupid question.

“W-What about the black one?”

“Don’t know her. She must’ve challenged Lisa. Could be a foreigner. But she’s very strong too!”

The magic is spectacular: beams and spirals of coloured light, crackling arcs being shot from their staffs, and—Wow, the one in black just summoned several armed skeletons. No wonder they picked this isolated field.

“W-Well uh, why are you here?” I ask.

“For a very simply reason...”

She smirks.

“I’m going to steal something!”

“S-steal? How and why?!”

“A... coworker of mine needs a staff, so I’m going to steal it from one of them."

She really plans to steal from who she called very powerful wizards?

“C-Couldn’t your friend just buy a new one? Or steal from someone weaker?”

“Because I UNINTENTIONALLY broke hers,” she says. “And that brat only wants the best, so I have no choice.”

I don’t know why, but I don’t feel like she's a bad person. Helping a friend is noble, right?

“May I ask two things? Why are you here, and why tell me?”

I... I am being too snoop?

“You’re an outsider who knows absolutely nothing.” she answers, almost bored. “So you’re no threat.”

Ah... Is it really that obvious?

She smiles, mildly sarcastic.

“If you were a threat, I’d kill you♡”

“A-agh… no need to scare me like that…”

She giggles. “I’m Ruma, nineteen. Member of Grimwerod, the most powerful Suicider group in the world.”

S-Suicider? The heck is that?!

“P-please don’t leak info to others,” she teases, crawling like a dog towards me.

"But you're gonna be a good boy and not tell anyone, right?~"

Tsk, I’m blushing. A-Are teenagers usually like this with someone they just met?

"Y-Yeah sure, I didn't plan on doing that..."

Now that I finally get to see her closer:

Ruma has straight, loose ginger hair that falls to her shoulders. Big lilac eyes, very fair skin, average height, and a curvy, well-kept figure. She wears a pale yellow tunic embroidered with white vine patterns, a gray short hooded cloak fastened with a whale brooch, thigh-high gray socks, and yellow mid-calf boots with light scuffing. A silver necklace with two tiny dagger charms rests at her throat.

She certainly takes care of herself. A mix of intimidating and trying to look cool, i'd say.

“So? You’re just going to stare?” she asks, flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder.

“I-I uh…”

God, even in an illusion I’m still a mess!

“Anyway, who are you?”

Time to bluff with confidence.

“I’m Theo Moretti!”

She gives me a puzzled look.

“...Nice to meet you—”

“You need help stealing a staff, right? Any one of them will do?”

“Uhm… yes.”

I stood up, tried to look confident, even though I probably failed.

“Then I, Theo Moretti, will do it for you!”

“W-what?! Why would you—”

I look at the two wizards, tiny now across the drop.

“Because… you were kind to me.”

“K-kind? How? I just talked normally. I threatened to kill you!”

“I don’t mind.”

I smile.

“Well, see ya! Here I go!”

I sprint toward the duel, the fighters a long way off.

“Wait! WHAT YOU’RE DOING IS SUICIDE!!” Ruma yells.

“I don’t care!”

It’s not only because she was nice. In this world I don’t want to be like before. I do not want to do nothing the whole time.

I’m not going to be the shy boy I used to be. I’ll try. This is the second chance I always wanted!

Goddamn, I-I’m nervous. I’ve never felt this brave... But in this world I will be different.

And, after all, it’s just an illusion. I should be less ashamed. I’m not afraid of dying… I think.