Disclaimer: I own nothing related to To-Love Ru, if I did, then the series would still be on-going.
Regular exposition text looks like this.
"Speech looks like this."
"Mindscape discussions appear like this."
Proclamations appear like this.
:=:
The world was spiraling, as if the sky had fallen into the earth to create a universal smoothie. Or at least it seemed like such to Naoto as he walked back from school to his apartment.
"It's impossible" I mumbled, unaware of the world, stuck in the logical impossibility I had realized.
Reincarnation was unscientific, but still something that could be explained through means of undiscovered realities, parallel universes and so on. Even Isekai could have been explained through some crazy jumps of logic, mixing in parallel worlds with extreme divergences and maybe a sprinkle of higher authorities that humankind has no knowledge of.
But being reincarnated into a fictional world? That was purely the realm of creative fiction. Impossible to the extreme. Stories like such were often nothing but a figment of human imagination, idle and left to run wild.
"Maybe that is what this is after all" I pondered. What evidence was there to suggest that all of this had not been just a figment of my imagination? There was no concrete evidence of what happened to people before they died, or those who fell into a coma. Surely brain activity in such a state could dream up something related to experiences they have had in their lives.
But I'd had never been a lucid dreamer, nor did I believe that such a figment could have a world so wide and detailed. Dreams, more often than not, would act in manners similar to procedurally generated games. Objects in the world and information within the world would come into existence as the main character was to interact with, or be concerned about them, often forgetting previous objects and existences as they became irrelevant. That did not seem to be the case here, after all I had never desired for this world to become a fictional one, especially one related to a story I only vaguely remembered.
To-Love Ru, a fictional manga I remembered reading during my teen years was about a galactic princess falling for a human teen, who had a tendency to fall in remarkable manners, and the hijinks that surrounded him and his soon-to-be harem. The story was however dropped in-between, or that is what I remembered, as I do not remember it having a conclusion. The princess in the story named Lala Satalin Deviluke and the human male was Yuuki Rito, two names he had just heard being uttered by the 1-C class president a few hours ago.
Deny as I might, the world being a fictious one did explain certain oddities that I'd observed. The optimistic environment that seemed to ooze throughout the city, the higher-than-expected perverse discussion topics within the school students and even the fact that a majority of the female populace seemed more curvaceous than you would expect. The last point was entirely scientific observation of course. For research purposes as they'd say.
But existing within a fictious world, even if somehow made logical through heavy utilization of higher existences and by throwing the scientific method through the window, still left me with one alarming question.
"How do I fit into this?" For I had no recollection of a character named Naoto in the story, of the bits I could remember. A fictional world is a linear device, working towards a preordained result per the writer's whims. For this story, the likely result of all progress would have been Yuuki Rito being crowned the king of the galaxy with his harem at his side.
The issue with that, which I faced, was that this result would be arrived at after multiple difficult scenarios, many of which are catastrophic to the city and possibly even the planet. Some of the characters he could remember even had the ability to tear through space and time or summon impossible amounts of strength which Yuuki Rito survived through what you would usually refer to as Plot Armor.
As I continued my walk back home, after considering a variety of measures to test whether I could 'Wake myself up', I concluded that any non-extreme measures would likely be futile, and those which were extreme were aptly named as such and I had no interest in attempting to follow through.
"At least I know that the story has only begun, if the rumor mill is up to date. That means that the future characters are either yet to reveal themselves or have yet to arrive. It's not like I could even remember the early chapters of the series even if I attempted to recall them!" I sighed. My knowledge of the story was incredibly sparse. I was yet unsure if any such memory would even assist me in navigating this suddenly dangerous world I had found himself in.
:=:
As my mind wandered to a crossroads, so did my feet take me to one on my path back home. Unlike my daily routine however, I could hear a conversation from my usual route. A child seemed to be discussing something with 3 hooligan like men.
Overbearing men cornering what seemed to be an elementary schooler, I felt disgusted enough to forget my current line of thought as I stepped in, near the group.
"Excuse me. Is something wrong?" I asked, stepping slightly in front of the elementary schooler, facing towards the men.
"Ah, young man, we three had lost our precious little cat and were just thanking this young girl for her help!" the middle hooligan explained, petting a bundle of white fur in his arms.
A cat, lost by 3 thug-like men, being rescued by a kid in the middle of the street. I can already feel a migraine forming from the odd occurrence I believe will become commonplace soon enough.
"Is it perhaps the fact that realizing this is a fictious world, that seems to make fictional events become more commonplace?" I wondered as the girl was thanked by the three ruffian-like men, as they went their way. Only then did I look at the girl I'd stepped in 'to help' and realize what had transpired.
A short stature, gold brown eyes and brown hair. Wearing a uniform marking her as an elementary school student, was undoubtably Yuuki Mikan, sister to Yuuki Rito and a relatively major member of the story cast.
"How? After 15 years of not knowing anything regarding the story or fictious elements, have I encountered two within the span of a single day?" I was shocked. It was as if simply knowing the nature of the world had driven me towards being entangled with the story which I was entirely unaware of thus far.
"Um, thank you for helping. I handed over the kitty to one of them when I saw them searching for it but then these two other people popped in and I didn't know what to do" Mikan thanked a listless looking Naoto.
"Ah, it's not something to thank me for. I was simply helping someone who seemed to be in need" I answered without much thought. I then added, if with a little wariness of what I was going to ask, "You are Yuuki Mikan, right?"
Seemingly surprised, Mikan answered that was who she was, "I'm sorry, but how do you know that?" she inquired, most likely so as this was the first time she had ever seen me.
"I'm Suzuki Naoto" I introduced myself, "I'm from 1-C of Sainan High. Your brother Yuuki Rito is in 1-A of the same year. I believe I saw you during the day when our class assignments were posted" I further explained. While I had not seen Mikan before, I hoped that my guess was close enough to reality to suffice.
"Ah I've heard about Suzuki-san from Rito! The prodigy who always has perfect scores in every subject!" Mikan exclaimed. While I was unsure if my gamble paid off or not, but it seems like my reputation had saved me.
"I'm not someone as special. I simply study carefully to maintain my scores is all." I lightly commented, as we began walking on the same path after realizing that we were headed the same way.
While walking I wondered how I had not run into Mikan in all my years of walking through this route, unless it too was an occurrence due to forces beyond my understanding. As we walked onwards, i decided to clear my worries "I've not seen Yuuki-san on this path before."
Slightly embarrassed for some reason, Mikan answers "I recently changed to this route given how it's quieter than the path I would usually take. I wonder if Suzuki-san also takes this route for the same reason?"
"That's right" I agreed as I continued to make some light conversation with Mikan.
We arrive at a crossroads where Mikan prompts "Suzuki-san thank you once again for your help! I'll be heading in this direction." As she points towards a direction different from where I was headed.
"I should be thanking Yuuki-san for entertaining me in the walk back home. Please take care as you head back" I wave, as I walk towards home, without glancing back to see if Mikan had moved or not. My mind spinning once again.
"I may have acted on autopilot, but that may not have been the best decision" I berates himself. By my own actions I had become involved with one of the main characters, even if for a brief conversation. Every instance of meeting or interacting with the cast characters would increase the chance of me facing one of the many dangerous situations they are to face.
As I walked back to my apartment, one other thought popped into my mind, thinking back to Mikan.
"She sure was rather calm for someone who's housing an alien in their house, huh". If I had ended up housing an alien, I'd have likely imploded after considering the consequences of it and whatnots.
As I closed the apartment door behind me as I entered the room, my final thought was that truly, Yuuki Mikan was a prime example on how to live a happy life within this world.
