INTERLUDE I

Hisui’s world has changed a lot since the sun rose.

She left her parents a note.

She didn’t do her homework.

She skipped school.

She was about to buy train tickets when Connie showed up.

:—<> —:

“Are you guys going to the seminar?” Asks Yukimura. He has been lying on the top bed ever since he entered the room. He still wears the school uniform; they all do. “If so, can you please tell Connie or Ronnie or whoever the fuck that I’m really sick so I couldn’t go? Thanks.”

To which Kawakami responds, “Nope.”

Hisui doesn’t know them, nor do they know her. She has to give a good first impression. “I will,” she says.

Yukimura sits up, wide-eyed. “You would? Well. Thank you.” Then he plops onto the bed again.

Kawakami shakes her head. She has a hairstyle Hisui has always wanted to try—a wolf cut, just below shoulder length. Below a straight, loose fringe, she wears rimless glasses. Hisui doesn’t know much about her since she’s… was a year below her, but two of the guys from the student council have had a crush on her at some point. One of them has a crush on anything that moves (except for Hisui), so he probably doesn’t count.

She and Hisui sit around the table at the center. It has some books, but they’re in a language neither of them understand. “You’re enabling him. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up becoming his servant. Trust me.”

“Are you his servant?” Hisui asks. She’s eating a plum-looking fruit from a bowl atop the night table. For whichever reason, the others refused to touch these. They’re tasty, though.

Kawakami’s laughter is dry. “He tries. By the way, how do those things taste? I’m hungry…”

“Like shiitake mushrooms.”

“Like… wait, huh? Mushrooms? Those plum-looking things look like mushrooms?”

“Or maybe rice,” Hisui says.

Kawakami grimaces. “I guess I’ll just wait for dinner. By the way, vice-pre—”

“Hisui is fine.”

“Ah, right, sorry. It’s just… weird, okay?”

“No it’s not. I’m no longer a vice-president. You’re no longer an underclassman. Titles have no meaning anymore.”

“...yeah…”

Yukimura sits up again. “So…. there’s really no Tabletop Thursday the day after tomorrow.”

Hisui’s fight or flight response activates at the mention of those forbidden words.

“Apparently not,” Kawakami says. “We really are here, huh? It still feels like a dream.”

But it’s not.

It’s not, though.

It’s freedom.

Yukimura yawns. “I just hope the food is decent. No adventurer’s guild sucks. Oh, yeah, Aoko. I know we don’t technically have to name our attacks, but—”

“No,” snaps Aoko. “Nope. Not doing that. Not yelling attack names out loud.”

“And why not?”

“I can!” Hisui shoots her hand into the sky.

For the first time since they’ve met, Yukimura holds eye contact with her. He’s kind of pretty in an effeminate way, with soft, sleepy features, a beauty mark under his right eye and pale, unblemished skin. His haircut kind of reminds her of the mushroom forest though. Even with his scarf covering half of his face, she can tell he’s smiling. “Yeahhh, Sakura, that’s the spirit!”

“Hisui is fine.”

He actually hops off the bed. “Have you been brainstorming attack names? Cuz I have. And so has Aoko, even if she’s being a shitsnatcher about it.”

“I’m not being a shitsnatcher. I don’t even know what that is.”

He sits between them. “Anyway, what about personas? Since we’re here and titles don’t matter anymore, we technically can make a character, right? I’m thinking of using Usami.”

“You’re not using Usami.” Kawakami then clarifies: “That’s his current DnD character. He sucks. I hate Usami. Everyone hates Usami.”

“And Usami hates you too, harlot.”

“Can I make a character?” Hisui asks. Thankfully, Yukimura nods.. “Then… how about a maid named Kohaku?”

“Absolutely not,” says Kawakami.

…understandable. Copyright infringement might reach across worlds. However, this is also a test, and Kawakami has passed it. If she gets that reference, then she must be trustworthy. It takes a certain kind of person to play that kind of visual novel. “Fine,” Hisui replies, “Not a maid. How about a princess?”

“Of course Sakura Hisui would choose to be a princess,” Yukimura drawls.

“Isami, go be annoying somewhere else.” Kawakami pauses, then looks around. “Ishida? Hey, would you like to make a character too…? Hello…?”

“On the other top bed, probably,” says Yukimura. “We both know he’s not making a character. Moving on.”

“Did you see him there?”

He shrugs.

Hisui noticed his absence some time ago, but she didn’t bring it up given his… habits. It must be nice to be that unbothered by aloneness. She’d initially mistaken this for loneliness and attempted to talk to him a few times, but he’d just look away or walk past her with a nod. Some people are like that, the calm stoic type. Must be nice.

“One moment.” Hisui stands up. This is another chance to make a good impression, so she heads to her bed, then crawls up the ladder to the top bed where Ishida might be.

Kawakami lets out an, “Ehhh…” and then, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“No biggie. We’re friends. He actually said he loved me earlier.”

“Did he now…”

Upon reaching the top bed, she notices that Ishida is not, in fact, there. Hisui stares at the mattress, still untouched.

“Is your boyfriend there?” Asks Yukimura. Hisui knows what sarcasm is as a concept, but she can never tell when to apply it or not. Is he…? Probably not, right? Because they’re friends now?

Hisui says, “Uh… maybe he went to the bathroom?”

Kawakami stands up. “Wait—he’s not there? Ronnie said not to leave the room!”

“He’s taking a shit,” says Yukimura. “Hisui, come back. Aoko, sit down. Let’s come up with attack names.”

To which Kawakami responds, “I’m looking for him.”

“Nooo!” Yukimura’s face falls on the table.

As tempting as the prospect might be, Hisui shakes her head anyway. “Nope. You guys stay here. I’ll go out. I’m the leader.”

“Ughhhhh.”

She’s the oldest one, too, probably… actually, Ishida was in second year of high school too, wasn’t he? No matter: Hisui is solving this issue.

There are a few other summoned ones lounging outside—or outlanders as locals seem to call them. Hisui waves, but they don’t. Again, no matter. “Hi,” she says, “Have you guys seen someone with this uniform?” She points at herself. “But like… male. Never mind, bad description. A delinquent?”

One of them, a girl with poorly-aligned pigtails, replies, “Nope. Why would someone like that get summoned, anyway?”

“Ponnie said that Igasu specifically look for outcasts,” replies one of her companions. “You know, people who’d want to leave their world.”

“Igasu?” Asks Hisui.

“Delinquents usually make others want to leave their world.”

“Igasu?” Asks Hisui.

“Yeah,” says the companion, “Those rabbit-looking things. That’s how they’re called. Anyway, sorry. We haven’t seen ‘em.”

“Thanks anyway.” Then Hisui continues to walk. There are a few other outlanders around. They all seem to be newcomers. They’re all… they all came from that other world. They all wanted to leave. Most of them seem to know those in their group; chances are that they decided to escape together.

When Connie told Hisui about the opportunity, she said yes. Why refuse? She would’ve run away anyway. The problem was when he asked for a party…

The student council, unsurprisingly, said. The president was too proud, the treasurer too ambitious. They’re miserable nonetheless. They should’ve said yes. But they said no. And then the manga club consented. And that is good. They ooze the uneasy comfort that affable strangers so often do. As long as she can maintain a good impression, Hisui should be able to win them over sooner than later.

At last, she spots Ishida at the end of the hallway. He sits on a log, playing on his phone. His hair is messy, dyed blond, though the black roots are starting to show up again. He looks permanently tense, like a coiled spring. He’s pretty in a non-effeminate way. “Ishidaaa!” Greets Hisui. “What happened? We were all worried about you.”

He nods without looking at her.

…what does that mean... “Yukimura and Kawakami are creating personas right now. Or characters, I dunno. Let’s go back.”

He shrugs.

…what does that mean… is that a yes or a no… or an ‘I don’t care’… or a ‘fuck you leave me alone shitsnatcher’... Hisui made a small white lie earlier about him having a crush on her since it’s not like he’ll confirm or deny it, but now she’s beginning to think it might backfire. “By the way, Ishida…” No reaction. “Earlier I kind of… said something a bit rash by accident… so if you could play along that would be nice…” Still no reaction. “I kind of told the others that you said you loved me.”

Ishida turns off his phone, but he continues to look at it. Stare at it. Then he stands up, walking past her.

Yeah, that’s probably a ‘fuck you leave me alone shitsnatcher’. Hisui walks behind him. “By the way, how is your arm doing? I saw you were hurt, but I didn’t say anything because uhh…” He had the eyes of an assassin at the time. “...I forgot. But Connie healed it, right? Why are your clothes wet? Aren’t you cold like that? When will you tell the others that you didn’t actually tap into—”

Ishida stops so abruptly that she crashes against him. “Sorry. Please don’t tell them I haven’t, um… that.”

Holding her aching nose, Hisui replies, “I won’t,” and then she gives him a thumbs up.

He doesn’t return it, though. Perhaps he has forgotten about how they did it earlier. Ishida nods, turns around, then continues to walk. “Sakura?”

“Hisui’s fine.” This is the first time he has talked to her unprompted. Hisui pumps her fist to herself. Yukimura? Kawakami? Ishida? All conquered. Mrs. Hiyama should be easy to befriend as well.

“Can we really not go back?”

That interrupts her celebration. “Huh? Why would you want to?”

He shrugs.

“We can, but we have to fulfill our mission first. The contract said that we have to save Korova, but this doesn’t actually mean saving the world. It can be something small. Like a contribution, you know. That’s what I understood anyway. But why would you want to go back?”

Ishida stops again, right at the entrance of room 1408. Hisui has been ITCHING for someone to mention that short story, but nobody has. It’s tragic. He doesn’t answer her question, but it’s not like he makes sense anyway. Why would someone with seemingly no friends, who constantly gets in trouble, and with no career prospects want to stay in that world?

Instead of answering, Ishida opens the door.

“Hey, Hisui!” Calls out Yukimura. “Aoko found paper! We’re—” But then he sees Ishida and shuts up. Ishida walks in without a word, heading to the bottom bed, where he sits before turning his phone back on. “...writing down names. Come on.”

Kawakami glances at Ishida from the corners of her eyes. “Hey, we’re naming attacks. Wanna…” But Ishida is already shaking his head. “...oh, alright. You’re free to join us, though.”

But they all know he won’t.

Some people are like that, unbothered by the world.

Must be nice.