In the Beginning

The name’s Banjou. Nate Banjou.

Any day of the year, I’d rather be an ordinary half-blooded Japanese citizen living near Akihabara. But, if I was, I wouldn’t have gotten the boot for the Isekai treatment.

What do I mean? It started like this.

#

I walked near the end of the line of students going to school. Normal for someone abnormal in Japanese society to be last. Most of the normal population wanted nothing to do with half-breeds. Don’t forget about the Gaijin people, either.

Bad enough that my mother was originally here on a tourist visa. She had to be Gaijin, too, didn’t she?

“Oi, Banjou!”

I grimaced. Of bloody course, this problem had to happen today, too. “What is it, Uryū?”

My bully from hell stood in front of me, blocking my way to school. I had it up to here with Jotaro Uryū.

“Don’t ‘what is it’ me.” Uryū flipped me the bird, all while gesturing with his free hand. “Do you honestly think you can get away with not fighting me? Isn’t that all a gaijin ever wants? Especially one like you.”

I slapped my forehead. Of course, this idiot thought it was a good idea to fight me. Does he think I’m a wild kid from somewhere like America? My mother’s British. I’d prefer to invite the jerk to tea than fight him. I might slip some arsenic in it, but I would not fist-fight him in the street. That would be bad culture, no two ways about it.

“Well?” Uryū reached into a pocket and pulled out a switchblade. “Are you ready to get your nuts carved out?”

Wait, how did he get his hands on that? This was bad, as in terrible. Why was this even tolerated around here? Last I checked, Uryū wasn’t in the Yakuza, right?

Still, I needed to do something, anything, to get out of there and on my way to classes. What was I supposed to do, anyway? I had to diffuse the situation and get the police involved with this issue.

“Look, Uryū.” I stepped backward so I could bypass the bully. “I’m not interested in a fight, much less with someone from the Yakuza. Mother would tan my hide after skinning me for a new jacket if I ever degraded myself to that level, and Father would give me grief about falling for your antics. Therefore, no fighting will happen between the two of us.”

I had barely finished saying that when I had to dodge Uryū’s lunge with his switchblade. He didn’t aim for my nuts, thankfully, though that was hardly a consolation prize.

“Damn you, Banjou! Stand still!” Uryū swung his blade at me that time as if I was stupid enough to listen to him.

Instead of sticking around, I ran past him and hurried on my way to school, keeping my distance. There was no way I’d let him catch up with me. I was not stupid, not in the least.

During my run to school, I saw that a shortcut to get to class on time was available. There was an alleyway that led to the school between two businesses in that part of Tokyo. If I was to get away from Uryū, I needed to rush through the alleyway.

I probably should have skipped that alleyway, in hindsight, since I did not know I was going to step on a Magic Circle that would force me to leave home. As both of my feet landed on the magic circle midway through the alleyway, a blinding light flashed around me, shutting my vision momentarily.

#

When my vision faded back into existence, I saw men in black Ku KLUX Klan outfits surrounding me. Yes, this was down to the pillowcase-like masks that those supremacists wore. Not only that, I was in a stone room, one with no sunlight coming in. The light in this room was practically non-existent, save for some candles surrounding the circle I stood in the middle of. It was rather creepy, and I hated I knew nothing about the situation that lead up to that moment.

The KKK-like man in front of me, who I presumed was their leader, raised his hands as if he were leading a sermon. “At long last, we have reclaimed the soul of our Demon King, the great Abitor! Let us praise his willingness to come back to life in a new body that we had specially prepared for him.”

Demon King… Abitor? I never heard of anyone called that, much less me, so what gives? Was there anyone else in the circle with me?

I looked around and saw nobody. Wait, they were talking about me? Uh-oh… not good. Not even remotely good, here. When was I going to get out of this mess?

“Now, our Demon King, we must fill you in on what has happened over the last one thousand years. To do so, we have prepared a spell to catch you up with the developments of the entire world. All that is required is you permitting us to cast it on you.”

I pointed at myself, raising an eyebrow at the same time. Were these people seeing someone else, by any chance?

“Excellent, our Demon King. Please give the spell a bit to take effect,” the leader of these people said.

It would seem not.

The leader of these people waved his arms around intricately, even as he chanted. “Memoria presto!”

Memoria presto? What sort of spell is that?

Before I could ask the leader anything, however, a surge of pain hit me throughout my body. The pain was unreal, and yet I refused to give these people the satisfaction of having a Demon King, especially since I quit the business a thousand years ago.

Wait, back up, what was that? How did that thought even come into my head? I wasn’t a Demon King in the past, was I?

Still, I had better play along with these people, who are more than likely cultists, to get out of here. Here’s hoping I can sneak out of there alright.