"So, here's our new houseguest, Juyo Janai-san. He'll be an assistant host until he returns to his home." Kuruso introduced me right as I walked through the door.
I had already raised a hand in greeting, but the instant I saw them, the prepared "Yo!" had died in my throat. I'm not gonna lie, my stomach lurched once I laid eyes on the one thing that made this universe unique from the one I called home.
They were real. I mean, I knew that once I saw where I'd ended up, but I only ever saw them as pictures on informational pamphlets, where they just looked like really well-done photoshops, but holy shit! Monsters were real! Isn't that just the raddest shit?!
"Gk," I said, even as my eyes widened more and more, as if to take in as much of them as I could.
"Nice to meet you, Janai-san," Miia welcomed, bowing slightly. Her lower body was coiling beneath her in a reserved position, the slick red scales shining in the daylight. "Please call me Miia!"
"Mk," I greeted in turn.
"I'm Papi!" cheered a certain childish-looking harpy, pumping her blue-feathered wings into the air. Her sharp talons scraped at the floor as she fidgeted about. "Papi the Harpy!"
"Sk," I replied. My heart pounded in my chest while I tried to process what I was seeing.
"And I am Centorea," said the last of the three with a dignified voice full of a steely resolve that… really didn't fit the situation at all. My eyes briefly darted to her ample chest and I couldn't help but wonder if she had back problems, but that was swiftly forgotten once I saw her notably equine lower body and noted that she was a freaking centaur. "Any help you can provide for our Master will be greatly appreciated."
"S-s-o c-c-c…" Come on, man, say something! You only get one first impression, so stop fucking it up!
"Um, Janai-san?" Kuruso asked, looking at me with a worried expression. "Are you okay?"
Papi tilted her head, blinking in confusion. "Did we bake him somehow?"
"I think you meant 'break', Papi," Centorea corrected.
"Yeah, brake!"
Huh. How did I just know she used the wrong 'break' there?
Now, what was I doing? Oh right, freaking out. Alright, I can do this, just take a deep breath and give a proper greeting three, two, one…
"So COOOOOOOOL!" was what I ended up shouting instead. You know what, fuck it. I'm allowed to be excited with seeing fantastical creatures that I never dreamed would become real, right?
Said fantastical creatures plus Kuruso flinched at my sudden raised voice. Their reactions caused my face to heat up to almost intolerable levels, so I coughed to try and alleviate the sheer awkward permeating the room.
"Um, I mean." There you go, baby steps. "Um, hi! I'm Juyo Janai, though you knew that already since Kuruso already said that, so, uh…" Get it together, get it together. Explain yourself, they'll appreciate the honesty. "Yeah, sorry about that freak-out. I've never seen a liminal before, so it was kind of a shock."
"Oh, that's okay!" Miia assured me, waving a hand as if to blow away my apology. Her smile still had a nervous edge to it, however. "As far as first reactions to us go, yours was pretty tame! I don't remember anyone saying 'cool' quite like that before, though."
"Well, honestly the fact that your species' exist at all is incredible to me," I explained, scratching the back of my head and feeling self-conscious. "My home doesn't have anything like you."
"Really?" Centorea asked, folding her arms underneath her… Jesus, those things were huge. There was no way she could be comfortable like that. "Master said something about you being a dimensional traveler. So your dimension doesn't have any liminals?"
They're taking this remarkably well, I thought, before I remembered just what universe I was in. It was probably a lot easier to accept weird shit like traveling between dimensions when things like dullahans and devils were walking around as members of society. Thankfully, there seemed to be a high tolerance for this sort of thing.
I nodded. "Yeah. Or at least they haven't been discovered or revealed to the public yet." I shrugged. "Point is, just seeing you guys is pretty awesome. Technically, or just according to Smith-san, I'm a liminal, too, because of my unique circumstances, so here I am."
"Boss is hosting you, too?" asked Papi.
"Kind of?" I answered, looking at Kuruso, who simply shrugged. "More like I'm an assistant host." And not a part of the harem, thank you very much. "I'll be helping him out with stuff around the house. Cleaning, cooking, laundry, whatever you guys need assistance with, crap like that."
Papi gasped and looked at me with wide, glee-filled amber eyes. "So you're Glass Boss!" she declared.
"Huh? Oh." My hand reflexively moved to my glasses, pushing them back up the bridge of my nose. "Uh, yeah, I guess so." As far as nicknames went, it was hardly the worst I'd been called back in the college. Lord willing, no one from this universe would ever find out about those.
Centorea nodded with a smile. "Very well then, we will graciously accept any help you have to offer, Janai-sama."
Ehhhhhhh. That "sama" was a bit much, though it really shouldn't surprise me considering she called Kuruso "Master". I could live with it.
"Wait," Miia spoke up, fingers kneading the hem of her shirt as her coils fidgeted about anxiously. "If they made you an assistant, does this mean that Darling won't be around as much?" I could already see the beginnings of big ol' tears coming down her face and I felt the separation anxiety leaking into her voice. At her words, Papi and Centorea both looked concerned at the thought.
Christ, it's almost like they couldn't even function before he entered their lives.
As if on cue, Kuruso stepped in to assuage their fears."Nothing like that, Miia! He'll just be taking some pressure off of my workload, so I'll have more free-time to spend with you guys!"
The words worked like magic, instantly making all three monster girls have dreamy and excited expressions on their faces. I had no clue if that was the intended effect or not, but I had to give him props for that.
"Well, anyway," I cut in, turning toward Kuruso, "Where's my room? I'd like to get settled in before too much else happened."
He nodded and pointed back the way we came. "Just head up the stairs and it's the second room on the left. Right next to mine, actually."
"Awesome, thanks." I waved at the girls as I turned to leave. "Well, it was nice meeting you all!"
Miia, surprisingly, was the first one to snap herself free from whatever Darling-filled daydream she was experiencing and waved back with a wide grin, revealing cute little fangs. "Bye-bye, Janai-san!"
I walked back out into the main hallway and let out a deep breath. Well, that didn't go too bad, all things considered. I thought I'd been prepared to see real-life monsters, but I suppose it couldn't be helped. Besides, it was pretty fucking cool seeing a lamia, harpy, and centaur in the flesh! What kind of self-respecting nerd wouldn't think that was cool? I was sure my friends back home would think they were cool, at least. Would've been nice to have them around, too…
I shook my head, brushing those dark thoughts away. Moping wouldn't help. If I could enter this universe, it stood to reason I could eventually leave it, right? Right?
Crippling doubts and the fear that I would never return home aside, I made my way to my designated room. Kuruso's directions were simple, and soon enough I found myself in a surprisingly spacious bedroom. The furniture consisted of a queen-sized bed right below the window, a small wooden desk to the right, and a closet filled with clothes were conveniently my size. Well, at least Smith made good on that promise.
I collapsed on the bed, letting out a content sigh as I sank into the soft covers. Yeah, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. It wasn't like I'd been brought to an overwhelmingly-hostile universe where mankind was threatened with extinction. I didn't have to fight or struggle to survive. All I had to do was clean up the house every now and then. All things considered, there were far worse places to end up. And at least I had this room as a sanctuary, completely disconnected from the craziness outside-
CRASH!
"M-M-Master, are you okay?!"
"I'M SO SORRY, DARLING! DARLING?! DARLIIIIIIIIIIING!"
…
This was going to be a thing, wasn't it?
With a heavy sigh, I pulled myself up and left the room with the grim determination of a soldier marching to war.
"All right, MonMusu," I said under my breath as I began my first day as assistant host of the Kuruso household. "Let's see just how much bullshit I can tolerate before I leave."
