Chapter 3: Unwilling to party

I’ve never been to a nightclub, but Tokyo Eras is imposing. It looks straight out of a movie! A dim blue light lights it, laser clusters swirl everywhere, and the music resonates loudly.

“We better get a table!” shouts Masa.

Aki points to an empty table in a corner next to the bar.

We walk past the dance floor. Many people here are from a different class; there are even some foreigners here and there.

Once we’re settling in at our table, a chilling voice comes behind Aki. “OMG! Aren’t those Barbie, Scholarship, and Meatball!?”

I know who that mocking voice belongs to. Homura-san, our school bully, is walking to our table. However, his towering height and broad shoulders don’t seem as intimidating as they used to.

“How are my fellow teammates doing?” he asks, surprisingly kind, as he hugs Masa and Aki.

How could I forget those dreadful days when I was on the lacrosse team? The three of us would have applied to athletics, as being on a sports team in our school was mandatory, but we ended up with the sketchy lacrosse team.

If the sports-gifted Homura-san would enjoy picking on us before that, joining the team meant giving him a full pass to pick on us. The good thing was that, excepting Homura, our team pretty much sucked. We wouldn’t last much in the season.

“You should check your eyes. Masa has lost a lot of weight,” says Aki with a biting attitude.

“Hey! I did notice,” says Homura-san quickly. “I was just recalling the good old days.”

He pats Masa on the belly. Then he looks at me. “And you, Scholarship?” He says.

“How’s working at a conbini going?” he says with a grin of satisfaction.

My fists clench, and I’m about to get on my feet when Inoue-san steps into the scene from behind Homura’s back.

“Hey, guys! Are you enjoying the party?” she says, smiling and getting in between Homura and me.

“Pretty much, Inoue-san. This place is insane,” says Masa.

I feel Masa’s hand on my shoulder, keeping me away from Homura.

“I wish you had that anger back when you were on the team. You might have used it,” says Homura at me.

My blood is boiling.

“Honey. Let’s go back with Ayasaki and the rest. They might be missing us,” says Inoue-san.

I guess they’re together once again.

“Sure,” says Homura reluctantly, as if he was starting and was bothered to be stopped.

“See you guys!” says Inoue as they leave.

“Bro! What the heck was that!?!” yells Aki at me.

“That’s not you!” tells me Masa.

That’s true. I’ve never been the kind of short-tempered guy that falls into the slightest provocation.

“I… I… I don’t know.” I answer them. I run my hand through my hair, trying to chill. “It's just…Why did she have to tell him?”

“Well, It seems that they’re back together once again,” says Masa with incredulity.

“But you caught her coming from a double date, didn't you?” says Aki looking at me with mischief.

“As far as I could listen, yes,” I say.

“But who cares!?!” says Masa, shoving the topic off. “They must be on the other side of the club. I can’t even see them.”

“Yeah! Let’s have some fun!” says Aki.

We spend the subsequent hour meeting old classmates and having fun. I almost forgot the situation that just happened.

“I'll be right back,” I say to Aki as I stand up and walk to the bathroom. Oh, man! I gotta pee!

I’m almost past the dance floor when…

SPLASH!

Inoue-san stands beside me with a glass in her hand, empty. The drink is spilling all over my shirt. Everyone around us is looking with awe.

“You again?!” I tell her with abrupt anger, “For real?”

“I... I…” she begins saying, but I turn away and hurry to the bathroom. I still need to pee!

Once in the bathroom, I go to the urinal farthest away from the door and begin the physiological task.

Once done, I wash my hands. I check if there’s anyone in the room. It's all clear! The party seems to be rocking outside. I guess that's why.

I remove my shirt and start cleaning the red stain with hand soap.

I should apologize to Inoue-san; she stopped me from doing something stupid with Homura, and I don’t even feel ashamed of working at a conbini. I don't know why I'm making such a big deal out of it…

“Ah… Rin-chan?” It’s Inoue’s voice. I’m shirtless! I don’t want her to see me like this, but as I turn, I find her standing at the bathroom entrance, a big gacha sphere in her hand, eyes like plates.

“Oh!” she gasps.

I cover my body with my arms and run to the nearest toilet room.

“What are you doing in the men’s bathroom?” I ask, closing the door.

“Ummm..” she utters. “I brought you this.”

She hands me the sphere from above the door.

“For you,” she says as I take the sphere.

“You brought me a gacha?” I ask, shocked.

“Open it!” she says while letting out a sweet laugh. I can hear her steps going to the sink.

“I tried with hand soap, but it’s useless,” I tell her.

“Don’t worry,” she says. “Did you open it already?”

“Oh... Right!” I say.

I open the sphere expecting a plushie but am surprised when I see a piece of thin fabric. I unfold it to discover a beautiful black sweater.

I saw this sweater once in my favorite clothing store and immediately loved it, but I was short on money back then and couldn't afford it. Weeks later, I came back for it, but it was gone.

But Bro!? You may ask. What’s so unique about this sweater? Well, this one has a faint embroidery detail on the left sleeve of a wolf howling to the moon. And I love it!

“Ha ha!” I laugh.

“You.. don’t like it?” says Inoue-san.

“I love it!” I say, then I put it on. It fits me perfectly.

“Well, that’s the least I could do after ruining your shirt,” she says, ashamed.

Suddenly, all the stress I've accumulated regarding the party has vanished. I feel myself again. “Mom sends greetings, by the way.”

“Thanks,” she says as a little smile emerges.

“Did you get this at a vending machine?” I ask.

“Yep! It’s across the street. I can’t believe there's a clothing vending machine!” she says. “It also seems that I have a great eye. It fits you perfectly.”

“I guess that may be true.” I joke, of course. She nailed it!

Another gacha sphere sits next to the sink, and she’s rubbing my shirt with soap. I’m shocked when I notice that the stain is almost completely gone.

“What is that?” I say. That can’t be your average hand soap!?

“It’s magic soap!” she proclaims. “ I got it from the machine next to the clothing one! Ha!”

Now we both laugh out loud.

I feel nostalgic. I guess… I’ve been missing this, Ellie…

I look again at the sphere. There´s some kind of paper inside. I stretch out my hand and take it.

“I guess those are the instructions,” says Ellie as she gently squeezes the excess water from my shirt. “But who needs instructions to use soap?”

I unfold the paper. These aren't instructions! It looks like a fortune cookie paper.

“What does it say?” asks Ellie, looking from the corner of her eye.

“Do you wanna build a snowman?” I recite, clearly confused.

“What is that supposed to mean?” says Ellie. She looks back at me with a confused stare.

“I guess they ran out of ideas in the fortune production department,” I say, leaving the paper in the sphere again.

Ellie hands me the shirt.

We stay there for a moment, just standing, looking at each other.

“I guess we should get back to the party before a dude decides to come in and sees you here,” I say. She sighs. What was that?!

“I guess we should,” she says, turning to the door.

“SSSSS!”

I turn at the mysterious sound. It came from the sphere.

“What was that? says Ellie, returning to inspect the sphere with me.

“It looks like the paper just… burned on its own?!” I say, looking at a tiny heap of ashes on the bottom of the sphere.

“No way!?” she says as she leans closer to get a better look.

“Aaah!” screams Ellie when she trips on something. In a matter of a second, her hand is holding onto my wrist.

Then it all turns dark.

My feet lose the floor. Just for a second, I feel like I’m levitating.

“Tak!”

My feet meet the floor again. Ellie is still holding my wrist.

The sudden darkness disappears, but we’re no longer in the bathroom…

The floor has turned into irregular pieces of dark shiny rock, and a great cavern rises above us.

It's so cold.

“Rin-chan!?” says Eliie next to me. “What’s going on…?”

The air shifts, and I get goosebumps on the back of my neck. We instinctively turn.

I won’t lie to you. I almost get my pants dirty.

In front of us stands a giant lizard with… Are those wings!?!

“Allow me to answer your question, young lady.” says the gigantic lizard, with a regal female voice you would never expect to come from a giant lizard. “I’ve just summoned you into another world!”

“Ellie,” I say.

“I think we've been drugged.”