05-So you really are a Goddess, aren't you!

"RUN FASTER!" Konan hollered, yanking Toma's arm hard as she vaulted from one roof to the next with feline agility.
Toma was dragged along, his feet nearly tripping over the rotting tiles. "Hold up! My bag of cash is still back there—"
"I'll get your paper back later!" Konan cut him off with urgent panic.
Behind them, the Nuno-Gun's whistles shrieked in a chaotic chorus. Toma shot a quick glance back—several uniformed officers were scaling the venting steam pipes with wooden batons drawn, their tall hats nearly flying off in the rush.
"Are they seriously chasing us?!" Toma screamed in a panic.
"Deadass they are! You think the Nuno-Gun's just gonna let people wild out and do indecent stuff on the rooftops?!" Konan yelled back, leaping onto a cracked wooden balcony.
"But we weren't doing anything indecent!"
"Try explaining that to them while you're rockin' a crop top! And I'm out here in just my bra and panties!"
Toma glanced down at his own fit—tight white crop top, denim jorts, and wooden geta. Okay, yeah, this looked unspeakably sus.
SKRRT!
Konan hit the brakes right in front of a laundry line strung between two balconies. Her eyes quickly scanned the hanging clothes, and...
SWISH! SNAG! ZIP!
Her hands darted out with practiced precision—snagging a pair of baggy denim jeans and a faded blue, threadbare kimono.
"Just borrowin' these, appreciate it!" Konan shouted at the empty air, stuffing the stolen clothes under her arm.
"Did you seriously just steal again?!" Toma gasped.
"Ain't stealin', it's an undocumented loan!" Konan fired back with highly questionable logic.
"That is the exact definition of stealing!"
"Come on, move!" Konan yanked his hand again.
"YOU'RE COMPLETELY IGNORING ME!"
They kept booking it across the interconnected, dilapidated balconies. They dodged laundry lines, piles of scrap metal, trash cans, and even a pair of stray cats making kittens.
TWEEEEET!
The Nuno-Gun whistles were getting closer, making Toma's heart pound against his ribs.
They finally reached the edge of the balcony line. Down below, Toma witnessed a scene completely different from the Hiho-mura he’d seen so far.
A massive canyon.
They were standing at the very edge of the slums, staring out over a plunging abyss. Thin mist billowed up from the dark depths. And cutting through that fog came the familiar roar of an engine.
CHOO-CHOO!
A steam train emerged from the canyon, cruising along tracks embedded directly into the cliff face at a moderate speed. The freight cars were rolling away from Itokyo, chugging thick white smoke that blended with the mist.
"Jump!" Konan hollered, leaping off the edge without a single ounce of hesitation.
"HUH?! JUMP ONTO A FREAKING TRAIN?!" Toma panicked.
But his body moved on autopilot—leaping after Konan as his heart practically leaped out of his throat. The wind roared in his ears, the canyon spun around him, and—
THUD!
They slammed hard onto the roof of a freight car. Toma landed flat on his butt, clutching his hammering chest.
"I... I'm actually alive..." Toma muttered, staring up at the darkening sky.
Konan was already on her feet, chilling, taking in the canyon view passing them by, where piles of trash were scattered like a twisted flower garden. Meanwhile, the gas lamps from the settlement above flickered like tiny stars in the abyss.
Toma stood up and joined her. From here, he could see a whole other side of Hiho-mura he’d never imagined—a sprawling settlement built right into the canyon cliffs, with fragile wooden staircases connecting houses like a massive spiderweb. Antique gas lamps hung from wire cables strung across the gorge, creating literal bridges of light in the pitch black.
So this world already has steam trains, huh? Toma thought, observing the cars ahead of them stacked with sacks of crimson-red rocks.
"We good. Thank God this train was rollin' by!" Konan let out a massive sigh of relief.
Then, with absolutely zero warning, she grabbed the kimono off her shoulder and threw it on—but since she was still only rocking a bra and panties, every movement flashed curves that sent Toma into an instant, catastrophic panic.
"GYAAA!" Toma slapped both hands over his eyes and whipped around. "AT LEAST GIMME A HEADS-UP!"
"I'm literally just puttin' clothes on," Konan replied deadpan, like she was explaining the most basic concept on earth.
"Besides, you're the one who stripped me down to my underwear in the first place, remember?"
"Yeah, but... but..." Toma stammered, his face glowing beet-red.
Konan ignored his protests and kept moving. She slipped her arms into the kimono sleeves with movements that were way too fluid—leaning forward just enough that Toma, who was definitely peeking through his fingers, nearly gave himself another nosebleed.
"STOP MOVING LIKE THAT!" Toma screamed, clamping his fingers tightly shut.
"Like what, bro? I'm just gettin' dressed."
Toma heard the rustle of fabric, then the zip of denim jeans being pulled up. Every single sound sent his imagination into hyper-drive, and he had to bite his lip to stop his brain from going to the gutter.
I feel like an animator working on a completely uncensored bath scene in a hentai! Toma agonized internally. Why does this new world constantly test my faith?!
"Aight, I'm decent," Konan announced.
Toma slowly opened his eyes. Konan was now rocking the baggy denim jeans, cuffed at the bottom, and the dark blue kimono tied loosely around her waist with a beat-up leather belt. The black snapback cap with the sticking-out tongue graphic still rested perfectly on her head.
Konan looked at Toma with a faint smirk, then thumped her fist against her chest. "I'm Konan Tora. Nice to meet ya, Ame no Kareshi!"
"Do not call me by that weird-ass title!" Toma grumbled, crossing his arms.
Beside him, the transparent, floating Ame-chan giggled. "Fufufufu, that title is incredibly stylish, you know! You should wear it with pride!"
"Nobody is proud of being called the boyfriend of a Goddess they literally just met!" Toma hissed back at her.
"Real talk..." Konan looked at Toma, genuine curiosity in her eyes. "I didn't think the prophecy was actually legit."
"Prophecy?" Toma raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, the prophecy 'bout Ame no Kareshi; the one destined to flip this whole system," Konan explained, sitting on the edge of the train car, kicking her legs casually. "At first, I just thought you were some rich Itokyo prep who went broke."
"Oh, I am broke." Toma smiled sarcastically. "But not 'went' broke—I was born broke. Literally a few minutes ago was the first time in my life I had actual money, and now my entire net worth is sitting on a roof because we got chased by the Nuno-Gun."
Konan went quiet for a second, a sly smirk tugging at her lips. She brought two fingers to her mouth and blew hard—a piercing, sharp whistle that shattered the night air.
FWIIIIIT!
From the roof of a settlement right alongside the tracks, a guy with a mohawk leaped out and lobbed something straight at Konan.
SNAG!
Konan caught it one-handed—the incredibly familiar cloth pouch filled with coins.
"MY MONEY POUCH!" Toma screamed in shock.
Swish! Leap! Thud!
Moments later, a whole crew of guys and girls started pouring out from the rooftops along the tracks. They dropped onto the freight car one by one, sticking their landings with feline grace.
One was rocking a faded leather jacket with a fake gold chain, another wore a cropped kimono with busted-up sneakers, and someone else had a tank top and heavily patched cargo pants.
In the blink of an eye, the train car that was just Toma and Konan was now packed with over a dozen people.
"Scouting and snatching paper in Hiho-mura ain't nothing to us," Konan said, tossing the heavy pouch back to Toma. "Cause we the Suridachi."
"Suridachi?" Toma echoed, catching his money like it was a fragile glass orb.
"Suri no Tomodachi," Konan explained with serious pride.
"We're a crew of homies who just happen to share the same career path—pickpocketin'!" a guy with dreadlocks and an army-green bomber jacket announced, stepping up.
"Like there's any other career path in Hiho-mura, Shinzo?" the mohawk guy in an oversized baseball jersey shot back, naming the dreadlocked dude.
"Hell nah, there ain't," Shinzo laughed.
"Gyahahahaha!" The entire Suridachi crew busted out laughing.
Just one pickpocket was enough to stress me out, and now I'm surrounded by an entire guild of them! Toma screamed internally, thoroughly shell-shocked.
Shinzo then shifted his sharp gaze to Toma, looking him up and down suspiciously, before turning to Konan. "Yo, Konan, why you stickin' your neck out for this dude? You don't never help nobody outside the crew."
"Because he is..." Konan stood up, crossing her arms and looking at Toma with dead-serious respect. "Hekisa wo Kiyomuru Unmei no Kare — Tenchi Shonin no Bouya — Ame no Kareshi."
Dead silence.
The entire Suridachi gang froze, looking between Konan and Toma with absolute disbelief.
Then—
"GYAHAHAHA!"
"Konan, you trippin' off the fumes!"
"That prophecy's just a bedtime story for the kids, man!"
"Hekisa wo Kiyomuru no—what? Say that out loud, it sounds like some wack rap bars, hahaha!"
Explosive laughter ripped through the crew. A few of them were literally clutching their stomachs, dying of laughter.
Toma didn't even try to defend himself. He was way more focused on cradling his coin pouch like a newborn baby—considering he was currently surrounded by a dozen master thieves.
But he shot a side-eye at Ame-chan, who was floating next to him with a deadpan expression, though a mischievous glint danced in her eyes.
"See?" Toma muttered sarcastically. "None of them buy that I'm your chosen guy."
Ame-chan smiled breezily, raising her hand with dramatic flair. "Fear not, Toma. I have the perfect solution."
She snapped her fingers.
POOF!
White smoke instantly engulfed Toma's body. The crop top, jorts, and geta sandals vanished, reverting back to the blonde waifu t-shirt and boxers.
The laughter died instantly.
Every single Suridachi member stared at Toma, their eyes wide as saucers—locked dead onto the printed graphic of the blonde girl. The girl with the white crop top, the denim hot pants, and the very familiar pose.
"That's..." a pink-haired girl whispered, her voice trembling. "That's Ame no Nuno..."
"Bro manifested that shirt into a Suppafuku..." Shinzo muttered in absolute disbelief.
"Gyahahaha!" Konan cackled triumphantly, putting her hands on her hips. "Told y'all, didn't I?"
The pink-haired girl took a step forward, completely awestruck. "So the prophecy... it's real."
WHOOSH!
The Suridachi instantly swarmed Toma, hyped beyond belief. Questions fired off like a machine gun.
"What's your name, bro?!"
"Where you from?!"
"How'd you get picked by Ame no Nuno?!"
"Woah, woah, chill guys." Toma took a step back, getting overwhelmed. "I'm Toma Houku. I'm from a country called Japan in another world. And I got picked after doing a job interview with Ame-chan—uh, I mean, Ame no Nuno."
Silence again.
The gang went quiet—caught somewhere between shock, confusion, and total disappointment that Toma's origin story was so aggressively mundane. No dramatic divine revelation on a mountaintop, no holy whispers in his sleep. Just... an interview.
But a second later, the hype train derailed straight into absolute chaos.
"ANOTHER WORLD?!"
"Y'all got Suppafuku over there?!"
"People wear underwear in your world?!"
"Are there pickpockets too?!"
"What's thirty divided by two times four minus sixteen?!"
"Do y'all also soak high-quality soybeans for hours until they plump up, then grind 'em with water into a fine paste—"
"Hey, shut up! You're doing too much!"
Toma was getting dizzy from the sheer volume of absurd questions. But before he could even open his mouth—
"Y'all!" Konan barked. "We gotta bail before this train slides back into the gorge and hits the mining zone!"
The entire crew shut up instantly. They lined up at the edge of the train car, eyes locked on the approaching canyon wall.
"Now!" Konan yelled.
They leaped in unison—a dozen bodies soaring through the air before sticking the landing on a rocky platform jutting out from the cliff. Toma nearly slipped, but Konan caught his arm and hauled him up.
"Inside, let's go!" Konan pulled Toma into a massive, pitch-black cave.
The second he stepped inside, Toma froze.
Inside the cavern was a settlement exponentially larger than anything he’d seen above ground. Gas lamps and neon signs hung everywhere, casting a vibrant kaleidoscope of colors against the rock walls. Multi-story buildings were plastered to the cavern walls like a massive, chaotic beehive, interconnected by rickety wooden stairs and suspension bridges that looked fragile but were packed with foot traffic.
Hip-hop music echoed through the entire cave—beatboxing, rapping, and the clanging of metal blending into one heavy, rhythmic pulse. Neon graffiti covered almost every inch of rock, blasting tags like "THE SWAGGER DISTRICT IN KABEKO," "16 BARS OF FREEDOM," "SAMPLE THE PAST REMIX THE FUTURE," "IN BEATS WE TRUST," "WE FEAR THE GODDESS, NOT THE GUN," "OUR LYRICS THEY NIGHTMARE," and a dozen others.
This is literally like an underground city from an RPG, Toma thought, staring in pure awe. Just, you know, if the RPG was themed around hip-hop and steampunk.
"Welcome to the Hiho-mura plaza!" Konan threw an arm around Toma’s shoulder, grinning ear to ear. "Which is, quite literally, underground!"
"This is... sick." Toma looked up—the dark ceiling of the cavern looked like a starless night sky.
There were so many paths and corridors carved into the walls, winding up and down, forming a complex, three-dimensional labyrinth.
"Feels like I'm standing inside a giant termite mound."
Konan pulled his arm, leading him up a set of violently creaking wooden stairs. They climbed higher and higher, passing dozens of levels, until they finally reached a balcony at the very top of the highest building—almost touching the cave roof.
"Welcome to the Suridachi crib!" Konan announced, hyped.
The balcony was littered with absolute junk: bales of ragged cloth, rusted iron tires, busted cardboard boxes, massive gears, and corroded mini-engines. At the far end, a simple wooden shack was built directly into the cave wall, its door made of rotting planks.
Konan stood in front of Toma, pressed her fist to her chest, and bowed slightly. "Allow me to aid you in your mission, O Ame no Kareshi."
The rest of the Suridachi followed suit—fists over their hearts, bowing with profound respect.
Toma squirmed, feeling incredibly awkward. He scratched his head, forcing a smile. "Hey, hey. Y'all don't gotta do all that. Just act normal, please."
"But you the—"
"I know," Toma cut them off. "But I'm not some holy monk out here strictly living by divine laws. I'm just... a regular dude. So please, just treat me like a homie, maybe."
Konan paused, then a massive grin split across her face. She held her hand out to Toma. "Bet! From now on, you officially Suridachi fam!"
Shinzo and the others smiled proudly, a few of them coming up to give Toma friendly pats on the back.
Toma stared at the outstretched hand. His mind drifted for a second—flashing back to every rejection he’d ever faced in his old world. The failed job interviews. The romantic rejections. The endless, crushing bad luck.
But here, in this crazy new world, someone was offering him a hand without a shred of hesitation.
Toma let out a breath and grabbed Konan's hand, shaking it firmly. "Thanks for believing in me."
"YESSIR! WE BOUT TO TURN UP!" Konan screamed, throwing her hands in the air.
Two Suridachi members immediately ran over and yanked down a massive tarp covering the rock wall next to the shack. When the tarp dropped, Toma saw a massive, gorgeous mural of Ame no Nuno painted on the stone—the blonde Heavenly Weaver Goddess with her white sash, smiling gently as she held a golden thread.
Shinzo dragged out a busted radio and a sound system held together by duct tape, plugging it into a steam pipe until it sputtered to life. Meanwhile, the others set up a long table made of scrap wood and started unloading food and drinks: rock-hard bread rations, charred roast meat, cheap sake in iron flasks, and a few other 'luxury' slum delicacies.
Konan cranked the music, blasting the volume until the heavy bass shook the entire balcony.
"This party right here is to welcome Toma!" Konan yelled, raising a flask of sake.
"KANPAI!" the entire crew roared in unison.
Toma stood in silence for a moment, taking in the scene. The people laughing, the booming music, the barely-edible food... all of it felt genuinely warm.
He glanced over at Ame-chan, who was floating beside him with a soft smile. "Ame-chan... this is the first time I've ever had a party thrown for me."
Ame-chan smiled warmly. "Is this not what you requested earlier, Toma-kun? An Enkai, a welcoming banquet!"
Toma chuckled, then joined the crew—gladly accepting the cup of sake Konan handed him with a massive grin.
"So you set all this up through the strings of fate, huh? You really are a Goddess!"