isekai

On that day I entered the world of an isekai. The name literally means "something happening" or "new land." In most cases, when someone says it's an isekai, they're talking about a story where something happens on the surface of Earth and then something else happens in another dimension/world (often with some sort of magical girl element). I don't know if my world has that in it but at this point I wouldn't be surprised to find out there was one. And as long as she exists, my life will never again be boring—no matter what happens next...

"Oh my god, I am in a fantasy world now!"

I screamed it from the top of my lungs as soon as I opened up the curtain, revealing the mysterious land beyond. It wasn't a completely foreign world; I'd spent half my life reading manga and novels set in alternate dimensions and lands. But sometimes the landscapes of those stories are too perfect to be real—like, I could see myself driving along the highway down the middle, while cars were going past me on both sides, like normal. That sort of thing.

But here? The scenery had none of that! The whole place looked more like it'd been taken straight from the pages of a fantasy novel than an otome game. Though technically I guess there wasn't really any difference between the two types of worlds, so maybe calling this place a fantasy world was just semantics.

The scenery made for a great backdrop though, since it would make everything else stand out even more. Right in front of me was a vast plain with no roads, trees, or other features whatsoever. Mountains to either side stretched up into the sky until they disappeared entirely, leaving only a little bit of blue in their wake. And there was this huge castle looming over all of it, sitting right on a hilltop like some kind of big-city building. All together it was probably enough to convince anyone who saw it for the first time that we were in a fantasy world. Maybe.

But what really captured my attention the most, well...wasn't the scenery, exactly. No, it was the gorgeous princess standing there dressed like a fairy tale princess straight out of my dreams:

"..."

She wore light-blue silk with golden patterns woven into it. Her hair, which flowed all the way down to her waist, was the color of silver, and she had pearl earrings dangling from each lobe. She must have been a sight to behold, and not just because of how beautiful she was—but also because she stood looking out into nowhere with the same bored expression she always did. There weren't any other people around—they seemed to be coming later—and the castle had an abandoned vibe about it, as if it was waiting for everyone else to arrive.

My new master!

For some reason, even though I hadn't known anything before today except that I needed to obey her orders, I'd still somehow fallen in love with her instantly. She might not look anything like the women I imagined in my head, but her attitude about her life was exactly how I felt. My feelings didn't stem simply from wanting to be with her—though I suppose those certainly played a part. Nope, what truly attracted me to her was her kind heart, her indomitable spirit, and her stubborn determination to do whatever she pleased.

She reminded me of a petite anime girl.

Actually, come to think of it, the way she talked and walked were very similar too. To the point where it made sense that someone like me—who knew nothing about this world aside from the fact that I'd arrived there suddenly—would fall for her right away, instead of trying to figure out ways to escape from her.

I couldn't help feeling a little nervous as I watched her walk away; I worried I wasn't properly looking after her like I should. I was terrified of losing control of myself and doing something reckless like turning into the embodiment of evil just because I was in my dream world. But in reality, it wasn't as scary as it sounded.

I mean, seriously...who cares if my character died in a stupid battle or got turned into a zombie? Oh wait, actually, that sounds awesome, let's go with that.

And since I was already dead, it didn't bother me nearly as much.

All in all, things were going pretty well for me.

I took my first step outside the castle, walking towards the plains stretched out beneath me. Just like I remembered, the landscape was flat and empty. It was hard to tell at first—when you live in a small town, your entire world becomes the space surrounding your house—but it turned out that these plains continued on without end. No buildings ever showed up anywhere near them, and I could see signs of civilization off in the distance but nothing actually came close. Everything was just...completely barren.

Yeah, you could say that this world was completely barren, if not downright depressing.

In this world, it apparently wasn't unusual for children to disappear every once in a while.

The world inside the screen of a computer monitor might look perfectly vibrant and alive, but the world itself—the one filled with flesh and blood—can become full of despair whenever we least expect it. I've gone through far worse than this. If I couldn't handle this, I probably shouldn't have gotten out of bed that morning.

My steps echoed across the plains, accompanied by nothing but my own breathing. The sound of my feet crunching on dried grasses caused my mood to grow even bleaker. I didn't particularly enjoy hearing the sound of my footsteps against the ground as the sun set.

Eventually, however, I heard a faint voice from behind me:

"Hello."

It belonged to a woman wearing the uniform of a Japanese high school student. Unlike the princess, there was a warm smile plastered on her face.

Wait, is that...? Why does she look so familiar...? Wait a second—I remember now! The same smile as back in that anime club I used to go to!

"Huh?" I asked, unable to believe my eyes.

The girl from the anime club stared at me for a moment, confused, and then said: "What?"

"Um...do I know you?" I asked.

"You...probably don't," she replied, turning her gaze elsewhere and walking away from me.

That's how this whole situation started, anyway.

Sure, at first I thought this was a strange coincidence, but now I realized that wasn't true.

This was someone I knew, whether I liked it or not. It probably wasn't the exact person I met back in the anime club, since we lived on different continents. But...she had the same kind of personality, and she definitely seemed to be the type of person who'd invite me to hang out with her on a Saturday morning.

Back when I went to that high school, I must have been invited to join some club somewhere along the line, since I ended up doing it. But the group fell apart after one season, and I barely bothered to keep in contact with the members—maybe because of that. This person was probably one of them, and that made me happy.

After that, though, I lost track of her—or rather, our paths kept diverging further from each other thanks to whatever happened during the next few years of my life. There was almost nothing we could talk about now, and when it finally got around to me asking her why she hated me, she gave me this really weird answer like "because I'm angry" or something.

Yeah, uh...so what's going on here?

I sat down to reflect on what had just happened. Did some parallel world accidently send a video into mine, making this some kind of cruel joke? Or did I somehow get transported from my previous existence? Which was fine, because I definitely wanted to stop thinking about the past. And yeah, maybe the reason I decided to stay was because I subconsciously hoped I'd get to experience it all over again. But being stuck here was proving less appealing the more I thought about it, so I figured I should figure this whole thing out before I died.

There.

A giant castle.

With this in mind, I found the perfect spot for my first meeting and waited until nightfall. My body began to stiffen as soon as I sat down, but I forced it to relax anyway. I cleared my throat. Then, slowly...

"Hello there!" I yelled loudly into the darkness.

"Hm? Who's that?!"

"Is that you...?"

It took quite a long time for my master to respond. I had my doubts that she'd even heard me, but she eventually replied in a voice that I'd never heard her use before.

"...you're cute."

That was her line?! Cute? Really? Not amazing or something else more impressive? What an underwhelming response...

Just for kicks, I replied to her in kind: "Uh huh..."

Maybe she had a terrible sense of humor, but I was going to try my luck anyway. But honestly, what she said wasn't the worst possible outcome. It would have been cool if she had actually called me adorable, though. That'd be a totally different story altogether!

This whole encounter wasn't just getting confusing on its own terms...but thanks to the way she was saying things, it was also impossible to figure out who she was talking to. Was she addressing me, or maybe someone else?

It doesn't matter who it is, though. Because all I need is to meet with you—

But despite that, she still hadn't addressed me yet, so I continued:

"So, um...is this the castle you were telling me about?"

There was still no reply.

"Um...are you listening to me right now?!"

Still no reply. I started wondering if she couldn't hear me, but given how clearly I could hear my own breath, I doubted that was the case. So then why...?!

When I tried talking to her a second time, though, I ended up unintentionally hitting a nerve. A voice like razors slashed right through the air and reached my ears:

"Heh heh. You're not wrong. It is a castle."

The castle? So that's where I should head... Wait... Is that what she was referring to when she said she was sending me messages on a smartphone in my dreams?! But it sounds like her phone has been broken for ages...

I looked around me in surprise, but there were no signs of a phone booth.

It can't be that easy to find the real place, right? I should probably come back to check after finding the others.

isekai

My instincts told me to stay put for a while longer, but my curiosity had the opposite effect. At this rate, I'd never find out where this castle was hiding. But I really wasn't in a hurry to go searching for it—especially since I didn't know anything about the place.

I headed into the castle, keeping my senses for a while, and within moments, a strong wind blew in from somewhere.

I'd heard about this kind of phenomenon before in Japanese stories and manga. It was a good opportunity for a hero to get struck by lightning!

isekai

As an avid reader, I felt compelled to mention that I knew this sort of thing existed. As I stood there thinking, however, nothing happened, so I stopped worrying about it and resumed focusing on the scenery around me. I couldn't say exactly which country this was supposed to be. With the amount of detail visible on the architecture, it was probably Japan, but judging by the way they spoke, it was most likely America. It didn't seem like there were any words I recognized, so I couldn't tell if it was English or not.

There was only one language I did know, though—my master's. The first thing I noticed about it was that its pronunciation matched that of Japanese, and while I couldn't understand everything she said, her way of speaking was extremely fluent.

It really threw me off. We already established that I had lived in an environment that taught us how to speak a different language, so for a split second I assumed the text I was reading on my smartphone was in a foreign script instead, but I quickly came to accept the fact that my master could speak another tongue.

The large entrance to the castle was surrounded by a wall three meters tall and five meters wide. On top of it was a gate with two windows—which wouldn't make sense in Japan at all. Either way, I'd learned my lesson. I needed to learn this new language as fast as possible.

Once the wind died down, I realized I had seen this place before—specifically, I saw my master standing in front of it. At the very least, I could recognize this castle. After a minute or so, however, my vision suddenly became clearer, allowing me to read the writing on the walls around me.

By that time, I had already learned enough to figure out what everything meant.

isekai

...and then I was on a train station platform, staring at the person sitting next to me. Her hair was short and slightly curly, and she wore glasses. She seemed to be studying something on her laptop. In spite of how normal she looked, it wasn't hard to guess that she was a total otaku.

She didn't seem to notice me watching her from the side, so I continued to observe her. Once we got closer together, I found myself noticing other details—like her button-up shirt and khaki shorts that looked like a boy's uniform. When I compared her with a photo I had stored on my phone, I noticed they were both around the same height, which was strange since she looked like a little kid.

What is this, some weird simulation or something? Maybe I'm on drugs?

Regardless of the cause of the hallucination, I just enjoyed standing back and taking in the sights. Well, not that it matters either way. This is gonna turn into some kind of adventure sooner or later, so I just gotta wait patiently for it to happen.

And then suddenly, that train arrived.

My eyes widened as I watched it approach our platform. It was a bullet train, and it looked pretty big. I remembered this was supposed to be a world with no cars, so... Yeah, this must be some kind of weird game. How much money do I need to pay in order to find the exit?

She looked up from her screen and saw me looking at her. Then she suddenly turned around.

"Hey. Are you waiting for the bullet train?"

"Y-yes."

"Didn't they cancel your ticket?" she asked.

How did she know about that?!

I had completely forgotten about the plan to change trains in the middle of this trip... If I wanted to save money and shorten the trip, I should've taken a bus instead. Still, I hadn't even mentioned it to anyone. Why was the train canceled without warning? And how did she find out I was planning something like this in the first place?

In any case, this was a problem that would have to be solved with an explanation. It was clear enough that this was some form of sci-fi setting, and while the main character of that kind of game would usually be me, I would end up spending most of my time talking to NPCs.

But she'd already become part of this fantasy story. She was clearly a major player, but there was still a lot more about her I could ask for answers about.

"No, I made it on time," I replied. "I'm sorry, I don't remember seeing you on the platform earlier. Um... Do you live in Tokyo?"

"You do?" she responded.

Her sudden question caught me off guard, but she explained herself quickly. "I didn't think you'd be here today."

"Why would you say that?"

"I didn't."

Huh? Did she just deny telling me that?

"So why are we stopping in Tokyo?"

"I don't know."

...Wait, so she also didn't know about the cancellation?! I assumed she'd have to be in this world to make this story work, but she was seriously just pretending she hadn't heard anything about it. But I guess this means that she isn't playing the same role as a main character, right? Then again, there is technically someone named the "main character" in this game...

Anyway, she kept staring forward with her hands folded, so I decided to start looking around in the opposite direction.

To my surprise, there was a lot to see here. The scenery had changed completely, and the floor beneath me was covered in grass. There were mountains beyond those trees, too—looking at them made me feel like I was going to fall down a rabbit hole.

But for now, it seemed like the best idea to keep moving in the same direction until I saw a familiar landmark. That mountain over there looked like the kind you'd see on a map of Japan—it must have been Mt. Fuji. I headed towards that point and passed by a village near the foot of the mountain. The houses around that area appeared to be built of wood. There were lots of people walking around here, and all of them moved along as if they knew exactly where they were going.

These people weren't wearing shoes or carrying bags of groceries the way they did in my current world, but the majority of them did appear to be heading toward that village. Some of them walked away from the path I was following, but that was understandable—most of the routes were paved and easily traversed.

I kept moving west in hopes that I would see one of my fellow countrymen. But before long, I felt like my progress was being blocked—so I stopped for a moment and checked the route ahead.

isekai

That was when I noticed I was passing through some kind of forest.

For starters, the color of the leaves was completely different from anything I saw anywhere else—as well as the vibrant flowers lining every pathway. Everything was bright, colorful, and lush. Beyond that, there were plenty of animal species that were unique to this planet as well... Even so, I couldn't help but feel that the place lacked a certain atmosphere. I mean, it might be fine if this was just a temporary rest stop.

But it was so nice that it felt like it was hiding something bad.

Well, maybe I'm just getting paranoid. I'll just try asking somebody about the situation.

"Excuse me!...Um, can you tell me what happened to the bullet train between Tokyo and Hakone?"

I started walking away from the tree line, and eventually found a group of people gathered around an open fire. They were preparing lunch in a clearing in the woods, but aside from cooking food on sticks, I didn't see any actual flames. It seemed strange, but then I thought about how my master's stove worked without the use of electricity, so maybe there were better alternatives to traditional grilling methods that I just didn't know about yet.

One of the men called out to me as soon as he saw me approaching. He had long hair tied in a ponytail, but otherwise looked rather similar to the average adult male.

"Oy, hey. You're looking for the bullet train, aren't ya?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Too bad... Looks like it was canceled. Didn't make it in time for the new day."

Huh...? What?

"What do you mean?"

"Whaddya mean, what? Of course it wasn't going to make it in time for the new day, dummy. It was canceled after midnight."

"..."

So... The train was going to run through the night, but it would be cancelled once it arrived? Wait, didn't they just say it was cancelled at noon yesterday?! Now that I look back on it, I see there was already something out of place—but then I forgot about it because I was on the bullet train. What did I get wrong?

"Dude, have you been asleep while we were trying to explain everything? No matter how early or late you show up, we always start operations half an hour later than planned... Why the hell would it run through the whole damn night?!"

As he shouted, he grabbed a pot of hot water and hurled it at me. I barely managed to duck out of the way before it splashed all over my face. Thanks for making such a big deal about it, though.

isekai

When I tried to walk around the burned-down house, a woman grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. It was a small shack, and I couldn't imagine what kind of business this man had conducted here. In front of me was a wooden table and stools, and a pot hung above it. The old lady put a plate in front of me.

"Sit down, boy."

Is this what you call hospitality? It doesn't seem very Japanese, especially when it's being handed out by someone who was practically screaming at me just a moment ago... Oh, wait, I'm not in Japan anymore.

I took a seat on the stool and opened up my menu.

isekai

Chicken soup

I was starting to feel hungry after wandering around in this strange environment, so I opted for chicken noodle soup for my second dish. It was surprisingly filling and satisfying.

isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai

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isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai isekai

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