It’s a good thing if you woke up in a hospital, right?

I used to be a delinquent. Because of that, I would make frequent trips to clinics and hospitals to treat my injuries from fights. It wasn’t because I liked fighting or anything. Apparently, my eyes had a natural “mean look” on them that irked other delinquents. Just one look at them and they would pick a fight with me. And since I always won my fights despite being outnumbered, I became a legendary delinquent.

Luckily, my family moved to another city when I was about to enter high school. There weren’t any delinquents in that city and so, I was able to start a new life. I lived a low profile and developed a liking for video games. The people there didn’t judge me by my eyes and so, my peaceful days as a video game nerd started.

Until one day, I got hit by a car. It was raining hard so I couldn’t possibly blame the driver since he probably couldn’t see properly. If I had been more mindful of my surroundings instead of getting too excited for my new game, I would’ve avoided it. The last thing I could remember was the coldness of the rain while blood flowed down my body.

Now, I was probably in a hospital room. It was surprising that I didn’t have any fractures and I couldn’t feel any stitches in my head despite the fact that I was bleeding during the accident. It’s been quite a while since I was in the hospital.

If I remember correctly, the last time I was hospitalized was before I moved to my new city. I got involved in a little incident and was beaten up badly. A few broken ribs, cracked bones, and a massive blood loss was the result of that incident. I was hospitalized for a whole week.

“Ah. You’re already awake?” a voice called out.

She was probably a nurse... I think. Her outfit wasn’t like the white uniform nurses usually wear. Instead, she was wearing a long blue dress with a white apron. A white cap with an embroidered silver cross was on her head.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“I’m fine... I guess.”

This was an odd hospital now that I thought about it. For once, there was no air conditioning or even an electric fan. Also, the bed wasn’t the usual metallic beds but instead, it was a wooden one. And now there was a nurse in a weird uniform.

“Please wait here for a moment. I was told to inform them when you woke up”, the nurse said.

After a while, a silver-haired woman entered the room. Could she be the one who hit me? Is she a cosplayer who is about to go to an event or something? I mean.... She was wearing fancy-looking clothes under the armor on her arms, legs, and chest and a mace was hanging on her left waist.

“Good day. I am Noel Shirogane, captain of the 13th unit of the Westa Knight Order”, she introduced herself.

Was she trying to stay in-character? Or could she be one of the people who hadn’t graduated from their chuunibyou? She looked 18 years old or something. What should I do in this situation? Should I call her out or go along with it?

“H-Hello. I’m Mikage Kamishiro”, I managed to keep a straight face and introduced myself.

“Could you please tell me about yourself?”

That was a weird question. Shouldn’t she apologize first for crashing into me?

“I’m just a regular student of Sanada North High School. I was on my way home until the accident happened”, I said.

“Sanada North High School? Where is that? Are you not from Westa?”

Westa? Where in the world was that? Was that a place in her fantasy or something? It would be a pain if she was actually a chuunibyou. I knew a guy who had slight chuunibyou tendencies and he was difficult to interact with. If she was one of his people, then I needed to choose my words carefully.

“No... You know, the school near the mountainside? Sanada North?” I tried to tell her where my school was.

Noel frowned. She looked like she had no idea what I was talking about. Was she for real? I never thought I would meet someone who was completely immersed in their own fantasies.

“Sanada North! Come on. It’s one of the few public high schools in this city”, I tried telling her again.

“There are no schools with that name here in Westa”, she replied.

What the hell was Westa? Was she trying hard to stick to her character? If that was the case, I would be really angry. She just hit me with her car and now she was trying to make me go along with her fantasies? That was too much. I might be a nice guy but I deserve to be respected.

I got up from my bed and headed for the nearest window. When I opened it, I couldn’t believe what my eyes saw.

Normally when looking out, tall buildings would be seen in the city I lived in. However, instead of concrete buildings, I saw brick and wooden houses. In the distance was a huge wall. No matter how I looked at it, I was definitely not in my city.

Even if the people were wearing clothes that looked modern, the buildings were not. I thought that it was the weirdest part until I saw a passerby who had an animal ears and tail. I would usually just think they were cosplayers or something but the ears were twitching and the tail was moving. Either technology was advanced or...

“Hey... How did you find me?” I asked.

“We were investigating a summoner who had gone rogue and found out that he was attempting to do a large-scale summoning ritual. However, when we arrived at the site, we found you lying down on a magic circle while the summoner was nowhere to be seen”, Noel answered.

I had a hunch on what happened to me but it was impossible... But from what she said, there could be no other explanation.

“Do you know of a place called Japan?” I asked her just to be sure.

“No. I haven’t heard of such a place”, she shook her head.

Unless this was a really far place from Japan without any connection to other countries, it could only mean one thing: I got summoned to another world. I never thought of it as possible. I mean, I didn’t think that other worlds existed. But once I eliminated the impossible, whatever remained, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.. And the truth was that I got summoned.

“Ummm... You might think of me as crazy but...”

I explained my situation to her. It was the only option I had. I needed information about this world and possibly a bit of help too since I was an outsider who didn’t have anybody.

“Another world? Are you saying that you’ve been summoned?” Noel asked.

“Yeah. It’s hard to believe but it’s the truth. This city is far too different from my city. Not to mention that in my world, there are no animal-eared people. This is the only possible explanation even if you might think it’s too far off”, I answered.

If she would think of me as someone who was out of their mind, it would be bad. I hope that mental asylums here took good care of their patients.

“I see”, Noel said after thinking for a while.

“Wait. You believe me?” I asked.

“Well. You wouldn’t have a reason to lie. Besides, it’s too tiring to think too much about it”, she answered.

Wasn’t she supposed to be a knight captain or something? An irresponsible attitude like that would be bad.

“So what are your plans?” she asked.

“I actually have no idea. Right now, I have no home, no family, no friends, and no money.”

“This is a tough situation. There are no known protocols about dealing with people from other worlds and you can’t possibly stay in this hospital forever.”

Noel pressed her finger on her forehead as she tried to think. Currently, I am broke and have no information about this world. I needed a place to stay and maybe a job to support myself.

But what could I possibly do? I didn’t have any noteworthy skills. Maybe I could be a janitor in a company or something but would that be enough to support my daily life? What were the living expenses in this world? Also, would I be allowed to live here? I didn’t have any birth certificates and other identification.

“Say... How about becoming a knight?” she suggested.

....

“What?”