I Hate Isekai Storys

The sad truth of life on this earth is that there is no time for dreams. You’re expected to grow up, go through school, graduate, go to college, get a degree good enough for a job, get married, have kids, retire successfully, and that’s about it. If your dream doesn’t include good grades or pick a medical or engineering degree, then you might as well just give up on the game of life. Cheats only exist for those who have money, there is no way to reset and hope for a better playthrough with some expert walkthrough on hand, and there is no easy route to a truly good ending.

You can’t wish for a second chance on this world, because second chances will never exist.

But then I opened my eyes.

The light was so blinding that my eyes had to blink a few times before I could realize the green skies above me... wait, green?

My body seemed to have been laid carefully onto the ground, with my arms spread at my sides. As I attempt to immediately get up to sit upright, my hands felt the stringy coolness of fresh grass. Skies the color of foggy seafoam and what seem to be round orange flowers tower over my sight.

“U-um… Are you okay?!”

I turn my head to see a girl staring down at me from a small distance. Her two messy black braids flowed with the wind, practically waving over her surprised face.

“There was just a light, and…”—here she started to look a bit away and fidget at her hair a bit—“…I thought I saw… well, okay, I guess now you don’t seem like you came from the sky.”

I came from what?

My legs struggled a bit, but they managed to get up and help me see the girl more closely. Her simple pink shirt seemed strange to me, or maybe it was because of how pale it looked in comparison to her slightly tan skin and all the ruffled flowers everywhere. One quick glimpse around showed me that we were amongst an endless field of marigolds, but otherwise I couldn’t help but stare back at her in the eye. If it weren’t for the weird sky or her literal silver eyes, I’d think that our encounter was straight out of an old movie… or something like that.

“But you definitely don’t look like you’re from around here,” she continues. I guess from the way she tilted her head at me that it seems she wanted an answer, but I really don’t feel like talking. “Where do you come from?”

I move my head away from her question. God, take a hint.

“Well, wherever it is… it must be nice. I wish I could go traveling like you.”

I’m not sure what about my pajamas made her think that I was a traveler. They might be brighter than either of our skin colors, but they looked just about as plain as her clothes did. Or maybe it has to do with my shaggy hair and unshaved chin?

Oh, speaking of which… I had something here, didn’t I? It seems like I did, because my left hand reflexively reaches into my left pant pocket and takes out something rounded yet flat—my smartphone. I thought I had gotten some kind of message, but pressing the button to wake it up did nothing... guess the battery's dead.

Before I knew it, the girl’s tan hand suddenly grabs my wrist holding the phone.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, sounding as if she either regretted or forgot something. “Look at me just talking to myself when I should be getting you help! Please come with me!” With that, her tan arm practically yanks me off my feet. The marigold flowers all around us let us pass, hastily parting as her pace forces me to race along my left.

The marigold field seemed to be endless, just nothing but orange puffballs and occasional green (from either the ground or whatever the hell was up with the sky) up until the point where the girl finally stopped running. I couldn’t see why with her long black hair in front of me, but what I could see were two boys further away, looking right at us.

“Hey, who’s your boyfriend over there?” one of them shouts.

“A new victim, maybe?” the other says, which seemed to make both of them laugh a bit.

“…Why?”

The girl’s voice came out more quiet than her stutters did while talking to me earlier… almost as if she was about to cry? I probably was just imagining hearing that tone, but I don’t know if my imagination is good enough to seamlessly depict the slight trembling of her right fist. My eyes also briefly caught the sight of a fallen dark brown basket in front of the guy shouting.

“Hey, you,” the other boy shouts, this time at me, I’m sure. “Are you new around these parts, don’t you know not to hang around Farhana over there or something? Shouldn’t trust her or anything, I tell you!”

I feel like I should say something… but I probably shouldn’t.

“I mean, why else does she go around this place and collect flowers all day? She’s probably… wait, is she holding your hand? Get away from the guy, we don’t need any more of your witchcraft!” The guy shouting at me then runs on over and snatches her hand off of me. The weight off of my wrist feels relieving, but something in me felt guilt over that thought as I heard the girl shriek a cry of discomfort. She had been spun around so that her wrist was held behind her and her tired closed eyes were facing me.

What kind of weird, sick dream is this?

“Please… please stop…” she pleads. Her eyes briefly open and those silver irises of hers stare right at me. My eyes and brows force themselves down for a bit, before seeing hers then do the same, but as slowly as the tears that came out afterward.

“It’s time that everyone catches you in the act before it’s too late,” her captor says, refusing to budge as he slowly tries to drag her away towards his accomplice. “We could introduce them to your latest catch later, too.”

“I… I wish…” Her gasping was so quiet here that I couldn’t even hear the rest of it, but that didn’t matter.

“Hey. Knock it off.”

The boys stopped to stare at me. Honestly, even I don’t know why I said anything.

“Huh? You crazy?” the one further away shouts at me. Then the other, the one having grabbed that girl’s hand by the wrist, speaks. “We’re trying to do you a favor here, man. You really fell for her nice girl act or something?”

Maybe I should’ve—ehh, too late to eat my words now. Gotta clench my fists.

“Let go of her. She didn’t do anything to you, and she hasn’t done anything to me.” Well, not yet, at least. Probably not the best thing to assume, especially since these guys who look better off than either of us are probably right that this random homely-type girl really is baiting me or something. Still, for whatever reason, I take a step forward.

“Damn, maybe he did, haha,” the aggressive guy says.

“Aww,” mocks his friend by the basket, “what’s he gonna do to save this witch?”

Within seconds, my terrible phone toss somehow managed to whack the dude’s head.

“What the-?!”

I waste no time running over to grab the girl’s wrist herself, now that it was free from her captor. I have no idea how my phone could have literally knocked him down to the ground, nor how there seemed to be no cracks on the screen—what a miracle—but hey, I’ll take it. Guess the battery wasn’t dead at least, but no time to really look and watch it power on—can’t be giving these guys my own weapon!

“Have you gone mad?” the remaining enemy shouts at us as we race up by him and the basket by his feet. I’m not going to give this guy an opportunity to clock us, but just as I was about to race past him, my baggage forces me to slow down.

“My basket!” the girl shrieks.

Your bully is literally about to rage at us, what are you doing? But despite my sudden random act of courage, she somehow shook off my grip and raced away. The enemy runs at us with a face that looks like he could strike.

But then, in seconds, the girl slips by him and manages to grab her basket with enough time to spin around and clock his head with it.

She quickly makes her way back towards me as the guy falls back, his head thudding the ground. I couldn’t help but ignore my adrenaline for a bit to stand there. She practically slid around him and pulled off one of those spin attack moves… with probably no effort at all, and the guy is completely knocked out! Unlike the one I tried to ambush, who now seems to looking around… takes no time for him at all to spot us, of course.

“Come on, I have my basket, let’s go!”

Is this even the same person I just rescued earlier?

“The hell…” the ambushed says as he seems to scratch his head from my sneak attack. “Hey!”

Her tan hand takes mine, grip as aching as always. I thought about trying to run ahead instead, but I mean, I don’t even know where we’re going, so I let her take the lead.

God... what the hell was that? What was even I thinking, bothering to talk like that? I should have known that there was no point to even intervene. I don’t even know any of these people. Or this place. Or probably anything. Why am I even here? Is this even all a good idea?

I briefly look at my smartphone in my other hand. Seems to have finished powering on, so I press the button to wake it up. Huh. Nothing, still seems to be dead as ever … at least, for a second before a message came up before blipping back off again.

“Success. Wish granted.”

That message was probably the last thing I really remember before things happened and went by like a blur. If I didn't feel lost before with being told I was floating from heavens above and seeing goddamn green skies, well, then I definitely do now while I'm in the middle of pitch black darkness. I could still see myself perfectly fine though, as if I was radiating pure white light, and much like before, my arms were spread apart on the ground, my head facing towards the sky… if there even was one. All there was the endless abyss of the dark.

“It’s you.”

A voice... but nobody appeared. Who was that?

…was what I tried to ask, but my mouth did not move. In fact, my whole body couldn’t move.

“You...... I want you to save… this world."

As soon as the quaint feminine voice said that, some white balls of light appeared around me. They shimmered louder and brighter until they revealed themselves to be blossoming open... like water lilies.

"I have summoned you here for such a purpose... that very purpose."

Wait, seriously... like in anime??

"As for who I am or what you will need to do... well, you'll hear about it all eventually. The time for it all will come by when necessary. For now... just take the time to gather yourself... I can imagine this being very sudden, but there is just not much time to really explain right now. So what I will say..."

The shiny white water lilies started to sparkle upwards, above my sight...

"That girl you just met... I want her to join you. I think you can tell that she has much to learn and much to overcome though, so I have decided to appoint you as her guardian angel. And... use my power to make her dreams come true."

Huh?

"...that's a good goal for your very own isekai adventure, right? Hehe..."

...what??

"Please be a good fairy godfather. Good bye for now..." As the voice fades away, the whole area starts to light up all over in sparkles before I could question what I thought I heard.