Hey everyone!

This was an idea that came to me after a while and couldn't get it out of my head, so I decided to write a little and see what came out of it. Far too many stories in this fandom are canon-centric in terms of the plot, with little to none using the characters for anything else.

Soooooooo I decided to say "screw the rules I'm the author" and write something that has absolutely nothing to do with the canon story. This is a complete AU.

EDIT: This chapter has been rewritten because I'm not pulling story elements out of my ass anymore and actually know where I'm going with it! Woo!

Hopefully you guys enjoy it!

I breathed in the cool mountain air as my feet touched the ground. After thanking the bus driver and triple checking my luggage, I gazed up at my new home. I was dropped at the edge of the main village which was more akin to a small city than anything else. It's such a familiar feeling, but something about it feels so different.

My name is Naofumi Iwatani, and I'm the newest addition to the resident population of Melromarc Mountain.

Let me explain a bit about how I got here. After many years of slogging through school and university with no goal in sight, I'd decided to drop out. My parents weren't very happy with that decision. If it weren't for the fact that I'd kept my younger brother - the upcoming breadwinner of the family - out of serious trouble, I probably would have been disowned long ago. Poor Shunsuke nearly fell into the wrong crowd at school and wound up a part of the yakuza or something.

It wasn't hard to tell that mom and dad barely tolerated my presence. I rarely spoke to either one of them outside of them asking me the same old questions.

"Any luck on the job search?"

"Did you manage to find a rich girlfriend online?"

"Did you hear what Shunsuke did?"

It became too much for me to handle day in and day out. The only thing that helped me escape was a hobby I'd picked up on a whim years ago: snowboarding. It was nothing more than a passing hobby at first, something I tried once and decided I'd do again once or twice a year. But as soon as I dropped out and needed a reason to leave the house, it became my new obsession.

My parents were more than happy to pay a bit of money for me to be gone most weekends, so at least I'd gotten some financial support.

Fast forward a whole year with the majority of it spent snowboarding, and I have to admit that I'd gotten really good at it. So good, in fact, that I'd started competing in various competitions across Japan. Big air competitions, slopestyle, races, you name it and I've probably competed in at least one. I won quite a few of them, and I probably could have made a considerable amount of money if I'd kept at it. Unfortunately the only rewards were a medal and bragging rights.

With my limited allowance, I wasn't able to stay away from home for long stretches of time. That all changed one day when I received a shocking offer. The owner of the ski resort I frequented knew my face and name by memory from all the times I'd traveled up there. He'd told me that they were running short on ski patrollers, and he offered to have me trained as long as I took a part-time job there for the winter.

I'd accepted, of course. I was able to stay for short periods of time at the resort during my training before returning home to my parents. Where I thought they'd be happy to see me doing something productive, they were disappointed that I had "no drive to do something more". That's another way of saying "I wanted you to be a doctor or engineer so you could make a lot of money for the family."

Those good-for-nothings couldn't even pretend to be happy for me.

Anyway, I'd thrown myself into my training to stay away from them as often as I could. Within only a month, I was working part-time at the ski resort and saving peoples' lives. Not only was I trained as a ski patroller, but I also got some special training to be a mountain rescue.

It was a career that I found a lot of satisfaction in. People get hurt all the time, and it's important that they have someone to rely on to bring them to safety for treatment. That person was me. All in all, it was a pretty good deal. My only complaint would have been that I didn't make enough money to live there full-time.

Getting free access to the slopes when I wasn't working was a huge plus, too. It made it much easier to compete in competitions to burn my abundance of free time.

But once winter was over, the owner said they were letting people go until the following year. I was one of them, and I was devastated. This career that I'd started to build crumbled away and there was nothing I could do to control it.

So imagine my surprise when I received a message on a job search website asking if I'd be comfortable moving abroad to work as a ski patroller and mountain rescue. It felt all too convenient that they'd reached out as soon as I'd been let go, but I was too entranced by the idea of finally escaping my parents for good to pay much attention to the small details. All I knew was that I'd have to move to some place called Melromarc which was located in the mountains of Switzerland.

It literally checked all of my boxes. The only stipulation was that I'd eventually need to learn a new language. Oh well, at least the employer mentioned that there was extensive support for Japanese people to help them learn the local language. They also offered to pay for my plane ticket because they were so desperate for new hires with some experience.

Switzerland's language couldn't be that difficult, right?

Or so I thought, but everyone here speaks Japanese. Fluently.

Is Melromarc Mountain some kind of secret getaway for Japanese people? Ever since I stepped off the plane, I've had no trouble at all communicating with people. Even more unusual are the signs all over the place. At first glance the script looks to be in another language in my peripherals, but they're in perfect Japanese when I actually look at them directly.

It's infuriating that I can't tell whether I'm losing it or not! Is this a symptom of jet lag or am I just so tired that I'm hallucinating!?

Either way, I think that's enough exposition. I've been standing here for at least 2 minutes just staring into space with what I imagine is a dumb look on my face. People might start to think I'm crazy.

I looked down at the map I was given on the bus ride here. Everything from the slopes to the layout of the resort was shown in great detail, but my first destination is on the other end of downtown. As I wandered through the city, I realized that this place isn't way too different from the resort back in Japan.

The people definitely look different and the design of the buildings is a bit foreign, but it has the same air about it.

I hadn't gotten an opportunity to look at everything downtown before I'd left home, so I took the time to wander a little. There were plenty of restaurants and bars, a massage parlor, a movie theater, and some kind of antique shop along my path. I only strayed from the main street once, but there was a lot to see.

I'm sure I look a bit weird holding my large suitcase as I wander through the streets, but tourists do this kind of thing all the time, right?

Anyway, I was told that my boss would have the key for my room and that he'd give me a briefing on what to expect on my first day, so I should go see him. It's a little frightening to go from a part-timer to a full-timer so suddenly, but I'm sure I'll manage. I know what I'm doing in this job; all I have to do is what I've been doing.

I yawned, tears stinging the corners of my eyes as the frigid wind caught them. The sun had already been on its way down by the time my flight landed, so nighttime was rapidly approaching. As I stepped into the resort's main office, a voice rang out ahead of me.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

The receptionist who called out to me was pretty. Her red hair cascaded down her shoulders with a noticeable curl, but her eyes were what drew me in. Those emerald orbs gave me a once-over before settling on my face.

Walking up to the desk, I suddenly found it a bit difficult to break my gaze away from her. "I-I'm one of the new mountain rescue guys that just got hired. I was told to meet with the boss when I got here."

She gave a thin smile. "You sure took your time, huh? They're waiting for you in the back. Trust me when I say you don't want to keep them waiting." She pointed a thumb to her left at a door that said 'employees only'.

"Oh, uh...thanks," I said, scratching the back of my head in embarrassment. Way to make a first impression, Naofumi. You doofus.

I'm confident in my snowboarding and CPR skills, but talking to women is still a bit of a mystery to me. Holding a conversation is one thing, but trying to get to know someone intentionally is hard. It's so uncomfortable and awkward.

"And so the last one finally arrives! What, did you get lost on the way here?"

I flinched the moment I entered the employee room. The person who addressed me was a young man with long blond hair tied into a ponytail, leaning sideways on a couch that was in the middle of the room. Two other men sat beside him, and an older man with a white beard sat at a desk across from them.

"I, uh...not really. I'm just a little out of it after the flight, I guess," I responded with a sheepish chuckle.

"That's to be expected. Take a seat, Mr. Iwatani," the old man said. I quickly followed his order, sitting down beside the others on the couch. The blond took up a lot of space whether he intended to or not, so I was squeezed beside a guy with black hair and a shorter boy with curly blond hair. The former looked like he was bored, probably from waiting for me all this time.

I'm not that late, okay!? I only wandered around downtown for ten minutes, tops!

Once I'd been seated, the boss cleared his throat and shot me a look. "Now that we're all finally here, we can begin. My name is Aultcray Melromarc, head manager of the entire resort here in Melromarc. Go ahead and introduce yourselves; you'll be working together from now on."

I decided to introduce myself first since I was the last to arrive. "My name's Naofumi Iwatani and I'm twenty years old. Please take care of me." I finished by standing and bowing, as is the custom in Japan. I immediately felt silly since that probably isn't a thing here.

"What, no details or anything?" the blond man to my left asked. His red eyes looked amused. "There's got to be something interesting about yourself that you want to tell us!"

There really isn't anything notable for me to say, so I went with something they might relate to. "Well, I've competed in plenty of slopestyle and big air competitions and placed pretty well in them too..." I said while letting my eyes drift to a random spot on the wall.

"Oh! Me too, now that you mention it!" the blond exclaimed. "The name's Motoyasu Kitamura, and I've won a grand total of seven-"

*AHEM* Aultcray cleared his throat again. "Please stay on topic, Mr. Kitamura."

"Alright, I gotcha! I'm Motoyasu, and I'm twenty-one years old. Please take care of me," he said with a bow. All in all, he seemed like quite the outgoing person. Easy enough to talk to simply because his expressions are so plain to see.

The next one to stand was the dark haired boy to my right. "My name's Ren Amaki. Sixteen. Please take care of me." His introduction was short and straight to the point. Based on that alone, it's hard to get a read on him.

The final one was the other blond boy who was much shorter than Motoyasu. "My name is Itsuki Kawasumi and I'm seventeen years old. Please take care of me from now on." Another one without much of a personality, it seems. Hopefully I'll be able to get along with them.

Aultcray slapped several stacks of paper on his desk. "Moving on, then. I'll need you all to sign these documents before you'll be allowed to do any actual work. You already signed the official paperwork electronically before you arrived, so these are just insurance and tax waiver forms. Boring stuff, really, but they must be done."

Each stack had a name on it. I took mine and retreated back to the couch to start looking through the pile, but quickly grew bored. It really is just a stack of tax and insurance mumbo jumbo that I didn't fully understand.

What the hell is 'Crown Coverage' and why is the term always typed in bold? Is it the name of the insurance provider? Maybe I would have learned about this in my junior or senior year of university if I'd stuck with it, considering my business major.

Why isn't stuff like this taught in High School, anyway? It's really important.

Just like Motoyasu and the others, I flipped through the pages and signed my name where it was needed. After handing them back to Aultcray, he checked over each one while scratching his bearded chin. With hair that white, he has to be at least in his sixties, right? His face looks like he's younger than that, though.

Maybe he uses some kind of hair coloring kit to make it that white? Is that in-style here in Switzerland?

After a minute or two of silence, Aultcray put our papers down. "That should be everything. Here are your room keys and your employee cards. DON'T LOSE THEM!" he emphasized with a glare. "Those cards give you access to all of your employee benefits like the massage parlor and lift passes. Please, please don't lose them."

The exasperated sigh that came from him told me that there was some kind of story behind his warning. I'm sure I'll wind up hearing about it at some point, but for now I decided to take my room key and employee card and stuff them into my wallet. It was nothing more than a small piece of flimsy plastic with "Employee: Naofumi Iwatani" on it along with my photograph.

I usually look stupid in photos, but for once I managed not to look quite as ridiculous. That photo took at least fifty attempts on my phone to get it just right.

Aultcray leaned forward in his seat, prompting us to do the same. He held up three fingers. "A couple reminders that I'm legally obligated to tell you. Don't forget that you're a team, don't be a hero, and don't be an idiot. With any luck, you won't have to be replaced like our last group of hires for forgetting the third one."

I think all four of us on the couch collectively sweatdropped. Just what the hell happened to this mysterious group of patrollers? Did the company get sued for something they did wrong?

"For tomorrow, your job is to explore the area as much as possible," he said. "You'll be patrolling these areas regularly and it's important that you know this whole resort like the back of your hand. Go alone, go together, I don't really care as long as you're all ready to work in two days' time. Don't forget to grab your lift passes from Malty at the front desk before you leave. Dismissed."

My eyes lit up as we stood to leave. Is this what a full-time job is like? Aultcray is wildly different from the owner of the resort back in Japan. Whereas that man was warm and friendly, Aultcray is more strict. I imagine he wouldn't accept any screw-ups whatsoever, and hopefully I won't give him a reason to need to accept any.

Being late doesn't count, okay? That happens sometimes. Seriously.

As we walked back into the main lobby, Motoyasu immediately started chatting amicably with the receptionist. She giggled at him like a schoolgirl, something which didn't sit right with me. I had a bad experience with a fangirl at the old resort who acted just like that, and it wound up sticking with me ever since.

Catching feelings for someone who only wants you for fame, fortune, or your appearance always ends in disaster. Hopefully Motoyasu doesn't experience the exact same thing.

"And so I told- hey! Where are you guys going?" Motoyasu stopped us. Itsuki shot the man a dry look.

"I'm going to my room and then looking for somewhere to eat. What else is there to do at this time of day?" he asked before adjusting the bag on his shoulder. "Besides, I don't have any interest in watching...that." he motioned vaguely to Motoyasu and Malty behind the counter. She looked annoyed.

Her facial expressions are really...expressive, I guess. It's easy to tell what she's thinking.

"Agreed," was all that Ren added before turning to leave. Motoyasu's head flicked between Malty and us before running to catch up with us.

"Hey wait up, guys! I'll talk to you later, Malty!" he shouted.

"Okay!" she replied in a high-pitched, overly exaggerated tone.

"I can't believe you guys, leaving me like that! You know I can't pick up girls without a wingman!" Motoyasu chided. All three of us shot back a deadpan stare that told him we really didn't care at all. He chuckled awkwardly, threading his hand through his ponytail. "So, uh...Do you guys wanna go find somewhere to eat? We're all new to this place, so it'd be nice to have some bros to hang out with."

I was fully ready to decline, drop my luggage off at my room and go out to eat on my own, but his pleading expression made me reconsider. The guy is just trying to be friendly in his own way. There's no reason to be an asshole to someone just because they're way more outgoing than you.

"Alright, sure. Do you know anywhere to go? I haven't gotten to check this place out yet," I asked. Motoyasu hummed as he fiddled with his phone.

"Hmm...Itsuki, where were you planning to eat?" Motoyasu asked. The boy flinched as he was called out, looking between the two of us before sighing in defeat. I can't be certain, but it looked like he was trying to find an excuse to decline but failed.

"Well, there's a cafe that I was going to check out on Main street. It's supposed to be pretty quiet, and the food reviews are nice."

The taller blond man whooped. "Alrighty, that settles it! You're coming too, right Ren?"

The fourth member of our little group looked as disinterested as ever. However, he shrugged. "I don't see why not. Let's go," he said before turning to walk toward our building. We followed him into building 301 before separating in the stairwell. Each of us was placed in what was essentially a luxury suite on each floor of the building, designed for more long-term residency.

Since we were living here as our full-time home - the address of building 301 is literally what we had to write on our documentation for employment - we were given these special rooms as compensation for moving to another country for the job.

As I scanned my key card and opened the door, I realized that my expectations for the room quality had actually been remarkably lower than they should have been.

There was a large bathroom to my left with a separate tub and shower for one's choice in comfortable bathing. Just beyond that was a small kitchen space with a decently sized counter and everything you could need. I cook sometimes, but not often enough that I'd need high-quality pots and pans or anything too complicated. It would be more than enough for my needs.

Entering the actual room space, I had a large kitchen table with six chairs for having guests over. I didn't expect to use it very often, but at least I had the option. I walked a few steps further and noted the soft couch and the large TV mounted on the dresser. Speaking of which, the dresser was large enough for multiple peoples' worth of clothes to fit in there.

I can't imagine ever needing that much space. All I brought was what I could fit into my suitcase, which admittedly wasn't much. Almost half of it was filled with heavy clothes built for snowboarding, and the rest was just boxers, pants, and shirts that I'd decided to bring for sitting around. I'll need to go shopping for more once I get a few paychecks into my bank account.

My nonexistent bank account that I don't have yet.

I'm literally broke aside from the couple thousand yen I'd exchanged for local bills at the airport. Thanks for the awesome going-away present, mom and dad!

The exchange rate was trash, by the way. I barely have enough for three meals with this, so I'll have to be frugal with my spending.

Our group of four had agreed to meet downstairs in ten minutes, so that gave me time to get my things situated before dinner. I stuffed whatever clothing I had into my dresser and hung a few shirts from hangers in the small closet before sitting down on the queen-sized bed. It was larger than I'd expected and the sheets and pillows were much softer too. All in all, a massive improvement over my decades-old bed from back home.

Also, it doesn't squeak. That's a big step up from what I'm used to.

The time to leave came much sooner than expected. After we met at the front door, the four of us followed Itsuki's directions to the cafe he'd talked about earlier. I'd noticed it during my exploration earlier, but it looked a little sketchy. The entrance was on ground level but the stairs led down underground, where the actual cafe was.

"Alright, here we are."

"It's pretty awesome! Good choice, Itsuki!"

"Hmph. We'll see."

Motoyasu was as cheerful as ever as we descended to the door. Itsuki and Ren are much quieter in comparison, and that makes it hard for me to know who they really are. Maybe now is a good chance to get them to open up a little? I'm not super outgoing, so maybe Motoyasu will wind up doing the work for me.

That'd be nice.

A bell on the door jingled as we entered, revealing a rustic interior that matched the exterior's sketchy look. Dark red brick walls lined with old album covers, a few neon signs whose color was easy on the eyes, and dark wooden tables chairs?

This isn't a cafe. This is a bar.

"Are you sure this is the right place?..." Ren muttered.

"Hey hey, this place is pretty cool! Let's grab a seat and order something, guys!" Motoyasu guided us to a table near the center and we all sat down. Bars were never really my thing. Not only did I never have the money to afford it, but I have the magical ability to never get drunk no matter how much alcohol I drink.

I know. It sounds weird but it's true.

My first year in university, it was perfectly normal for me to wind up being the designated driver for my 'friends' simply because I was the one who couldn't get drunk. They would drink and drink until they vomited all over themselves, and I'd go through the trouble of driving them home and taking care of them until they safely fell asleep. I thought it made me a good friend, someone they could rely on.

It wasn't until the beginning of my second year that I'd discovered that they only kept me around for that reason alone. Needless to say, it was a harsh way to learn that your only 'friends' were manipulating you for their own gain.

As a result, bars and I haven't exactly had a good relationship. Still, this place does feel a bit more relaxing than most bars. Quieter, too. There weren't many people tonight, so it didn't take long for a pretty waitress to come up to us.

I was stunned into silence. I didn't realize this was a cosplay cafe...cosplay bar? That's a new one.

"W-welcome! Can I get you all something to drink to start off, or are you ready to order?" she asked as she handed out menus to each of us. She was beautiful, with auburn colored hair and a cute smile that made my cheeks a little warm. It's the perfect temperature down here, so nothing else could be the cause. Atop her head was a pair of raccoon-like ears, and behind her back swayed a brownish colored tail.

Her costume is on point, if I say so myself. It fits her a little too well.

"Give me a draft beer! What about you guys?" Motoyasu started, turning to her with a smile that most women would probably find irresistable. "By the way, your costume is incredible!"

The young woman blushed horribly, looking down at her outfit before hiding her face behind her notepad. "C-costume? U-um...thank you?..." she stammered. I thought it was adorable until I realized that her tail moved. And by moved, I mean it's fluffed up like crazy. Not only that, but her ears swiveled backward and pinned themselves against her head.

Isn't that what cats do when they're scared? How does that work?

I came to a grim realization. Either her costume is leagues beyond what anyone in Japan is capable of making, or those ears and tail are real. But that doesn't make any sense! Aren't we supposed to be in Switzerland!?

Just what the hell has Switzerland been hiding this whole damn time!? I know Japan has a history of isolationism, but this is ridiculous! Surely we of all people would know about cosplayers that are this realistic! We practically invented cosplay!

"-fumi? Hey yo, Naofumi? You there?" Motoyasu waved a hand in front of my face. I blinked, only now realizing that I'd been staring at the poor girl for a while now. My blush tripled in intensity, making me feel like my cheeks were on fire.

"O-oh, I'm so sorry! I'll just have..." I finally looked at the menu. There was a decent selection of draft beers and mixed drinks as well as a variety of coffee and tea beverages. "I'll, uh...I'll just have a caramel macchiato, please," I finished, finding it difficult to look her in the eyes.

Mine were constantly drawn to the subtle motions of her fuzzy ears.

"S-sure thing! Um, I'll be back in a few minutes!" she exclaimed before scurrying off to the bar. Two other girls stood behind the counter, mixing drinks or cleaning glasses. I couldn't help but let my eyes wander, ignoring whatever Motoyasu was saying and focusing on the small twitches and movements of the girls' ears and tails.

That's right. All three of them had animal-like ears and little tails coming out of their backs. One's tail was thin and long, with blonde hair. The other was more auburn like our waitress's hair, but much poofier. Sort of like a corgi dog. They whispered amongst themselves as they made our drinks, and every once in a while their unusual features would move in an all-too-realistic manner.

There's just no way they're real...right? What on earth is going on?

A hand slapped against my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Naofumi, what's going on with you? You're acting weird all of a sudden. Haven't you been to a cosplay cafe before?" Motoyasu asked. I shook my head and leaned in closer to him. The others at my table did the same.

"I don't think this is just some cosplay cafe, Motoyasu. There's a lot of weird stuff going on," I mumbled, suddenly wary about my surroundings. Between these animal people, the weird way that everyone speaks fluent Japanese, and the mysterious way that letters rearrange into Hiragana and Katakana, I'm starting to doubt a lot of things.

Are we even in Switzerland? If not, where the hell are we?

"You mean with everyone speaking Japanese? Yeah, I found that weird too," Itsuki added, looking around cautiously. "I know they said we wouldn't have much trouble with the language barrier, but this is ridiculous."

"So we're not in Switzerland. Is that what you're saying?" Ren asked.

Motoyasu looked shocked for a moment before his face scrunched up in concentration. "Well...now that you mention it, I guess this place is pretty strange. They asked me some weird questions at the airport too. Things like where I came from and stuff."

I nodded. "Me too. I thought that was just hospitality or something. I've never flown before, so I didn't think much of it at the time. But with everything else, I'm pretty certain something is up."

"Then where are we?"

Ren's question forced us into silence. None of us have any idea where we are, and that thought terrifies me more than I'd like to admit. If we're not in Switzerland, we could be anywhere. Is it possible to go home? Are there more odd things we need to watch out for that would be wildly different than back home?

Itsuki shook his head. "We need to ask Aultcray tomorrow. There's no way he doesn't know what's going on."

"Agreed."

Motoyasu scratched his forehead. "So in the meantime, do we just...act normal or whatever? We can't act like we're constantly in danger, right?"

"No, but I think we need to be careful," I said with a tone of finality. "Just don't go out and do anything crazy until we know where the hell we are. Does that sound good?"

The others nodded and we relaxed as much as we could, given our circumstances. Motoyasu was the only one of us who didn't look tense; he just looked at me with a smirk. After a few seconds of locking eyes, I raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

He nudged me with his elbow. "So what do you think of our waitress, eh Naofumi? You stared at her for a long time. Is she your type?"

My eyes twitched at how loudly he asked the question. "Can you not ask stupid questions? I was looking at how cute her ears and tail were."

...

Oh shit, I said that almost as loudly as he did.

Stupid Naofumi! Stupid!

I felt like burying my face in my hands. "I think they're real, you guys! Did you see how much her ears moved?" I whispered.

Motoyasu seemed unusually interested in the topic. "I wondered about that! Her tail got all poofy, too! It was cute!" he responded in a quiet tone.

"As much as I myself am curious, can you two stop being so insensitive? She's looking right at us," Itsuki said with a worried look. My eyes followed his gaze until they met the waitress's own tea-colored ones.

She was scared. The other two girls stood in the way of our view as if to block her from us.

I feel awful...I don't care if her ears and tail are real or not, the fear in her eyes is as real as it gets.

The young woman brought our drinks a few minutes later. "I-I'm so sorry for the wait! Here are your drinks. C-can I g-get you something to eat?" Her voice faltered mid-sentence, tail still puffed up in fear and lashing about every once in a while.

Without skipping a beat, I stood and bowed as deeply as I could.

"I'm so sorry if we've made you uncomfortable! W-we're, um...not from around here. I-if you don't mind me asking, are your ears and tail...real?" I asked, trying my best not to sound giddy at the thought. It wound up sounding pathetic and wimpy, I think. The whole cafe was staring at us now, thanks to me.

Way to go, me. And I'm the one who said we should be careful. Idiot.

She blushed again, this time with a raised eyebrow and a cute tilt of her head as if to ask "You mean you don't know?" I worried that we'd be thrown out for harassment or something. Thankfully, she was a lot nicer than that. "Y-yes, they're real...Um...W-where are you from, exactly?" she asked cautiously.

"Japan, but I have a feeling you don't know where that is."

Her brow scrunched up in thought before she shook her head. "I-I'm sorry, I've never heard of such a place." I sighed on the outside, but on the inside my mind was running laps.

So we aren't in Switzerland after all. I don't think we're even on Earth anymore.

Aultcray needs to give us some damn answers tomorrow.

I smiled as earnestly as I could at her. "Again, I'm really sorry if we've made you uncomfortable. We've never seen people like you before, so it was a bit of a shock."

She shook her head, managing an adorable little smile. The slight blush was still plastered on her cheeks. "N-no, don't worry about it at all! But I think I should mention that it's rude to stare at someone for too long..."

It was my turn to blush again. "I-I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Thank you. Now, are you all ready to order?" she asked, putting a pen to her notepad and smiling at us. We all nodded and gave her our orders. She bowed quickly and retreated to the bar where she and the other girls whispered amongst one another. I was curious about what they were saying, but I did my best to ignore them as if they were regular people.

It's only common courtesy not to stare, even if they are different.

Our meals came after another fifteen minutes, and in Motoyasu's case, another two drinks. The man drank his alcohol quicker than most of the people I'd known back in university. I got some nasty flashbacks, but at least he seemed to control himself enough not to cause a scene. Sure he was loud and easily excited, but he looks like he's genuinely enjoying hanging out with us quieter folk.

It's a much different feeling from what I'm used to. I can't say I dislike it at all.

For the price, my meal was delicious. A simple grilled chicken breast with noodles and a sauce reminiscent of a local stir-fry recipe was what I'd chosen, and the taste didn't disappoint. It reminded me of home in a world that had just recently felt so alien. I never had much of an attachment to the home my parents raised me in, but Japan would always have a special place in my heart.

The waitress would occasionally stop by our table and refill our drinks or ask if we want anything else. It's hard to explain, but her smile felt a lot more...genuine now. Her guard wasn't constantly up around us anymore, possibly because I cleared up the misunderstanding earlier. At least, that's what I hope I did. Regardless, she didn't stutter or sound terrified every time she came to our table.

It was embarrassing, but I'm glad she isn't so afraid of us.

After finishing our meals, I decided to tip our waitress with literally the rest of the money I had. $25 Melromarcian dollars might seem excessive for a tip - I think - but I wanted our waitress to know that I was genuinely sorry for how I acted toward her. Confused or not, I acted like she was some kind of gem in a museum worth staring at. Some might find that flattering; most would find it creepy as hell.

The pretty waitress waved to us on our way out the door with a smile that I couldn't help but return. Animal ears and tail or not, she's gorgeous. If a girl like her was back in Japan, the men would flock to her faster than any idol in history.

Motoyasu let out a loud burp as we walked out of the bar. "Oooohhh, that was good! I'll need to remember this place for next time. Good choice, Itsuki," he said as we ascended the stairs back to the main road.

Itsuki sighed. "Just don't drink so much that you make a fool of yourself. Do you have any idea how loud you are?"

"It's called having a good time! Everyone likes a good laugh now and then!"

"Some people enjoy peace and quiet, you know."

I chuckled at their banter. We'd gotten to know each other pretty well over the course of the last hour or two, so it was nice to see one of our quieter members talk more often. Speaking of quieter members, Ren has been even more silent than usual. He's also been blushing a lot more than I expected.

He didn't drink any alcohol, did he? Is he even of legal age here?

"You've been awfully quiet, Ren. Is something wrong?" I asked, nudging him with my elbow. He rubbed the spot that I touched him using his hand, looking away with a blush.

"N-no, nothing's wrong."

Motoyasu must have heard his quivering voice, since the man slung an arm over the boy's shoulder. "Don't think I didn't see you staring at those girls behind the bar, Ren my dude! So, which one did you think was hotter, eh? I fancied the one with the blonde hair myself."

Ren mumbled something under his breath, shrugging off the taller man's arm and stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Huh? Didn't hear you, bud. Which one did you think was prettier?" Motoyasu prodded.

At this, the dark haired boy muttered under his breath. "That's...that's none of your business."

"All right then. Keep your secrets, lover boy. There's nothing wrong with thinking a girl is cute," Motoyasu said with a shrug. "How are you supposed to get a girlfriend if you're scared of them all the time?"

"I said it's none of your business."

The blond man held his hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine! I'll just go and bother Naofumi then! At least he's up-front about the type of girl he likes!"

"Hey now, what are you talking about!?" I spat.

"You can't even act innocent, man! I thought your face was going to burst into flames back there when that waitress smiled at you!"

I hated the fact that my face burned at the mere thought of her smile. Yes, she's beautiful. Even if you take away the animal-like ears and tail, she's beautiful. In fact, I think they add to how pretty she is. Once we got past the initial awkwardness and came to an understanding of sorts, she was able to smile so freely that I found it hard to look away.

But now Motoyasu went and ruined it by pointing it all out, the bastard.

"S-shut up."

"Stop lying to yourself, Naofumi! I know what you're thinking right now!"

"I said shut up, Motoyasu!"

And that's how I made my first new friends in a world that was definitely not Switzerland.