Subaru POV:
It was the middle of the night and I was walking to the convenience store. The streets were still surprisingly crowded for being this late at night I thought while approaching the entrance. The little bell rang as the cashier greeted me.
"Out late again Natsuki-Kun!" He said in a friendly voice.
"Wanted some snacks I guess." I said back walking down the aisle looking at the rows of sugary treats. I decided to go with a bag of potato chips, some instant ramen. I went to grab a drink too but some girl was in the way. She had long silver hair, but most interesting was an open case backpack with a cat inside. It is gray and white with bright blue eyes. While licking its paw the thing gave me a suspicious glare.
"So what's with the cat?" I asked, surprising the girl who turned around quickly.
"Oh… That's Puck!" She said with a friendly tone.
"I haven't seen anyone take a cat to the store before. He's cute!"
"Thank you! He always meows like crazy and annoys my neighbors when he isn't with me. So I ended up having to buy this for him."
I grabbed the drink I was looking for and waved to the girl "It was nice talking to you! Maybe I'll see you around." I gave a smile and went to checkout.
The bell rang again leaving the store with snacks in hand. I looked over to the left and felt a slight headache. This was unusual. Stumbling back a bit I sat on a bench outside the store. About a minute passed by and I saw the girl and Puck leave the store. She looked down at me and waved before walking forward more. A small crack formed in the ground under her. I took it as just a weak brick but the crack quickly expanded, cracking and collapsing. A sinkhole? Why now!? She fell into the hole that was now at least 6 feet deep immediately I grabbed her hand as the hole quickly grew more and more. A wind shot out from it and returned with a gust knocking me off my feet and shoving me in.
The floor was glossy and felt slightly slick. A black mist surrounded the room. To my left was the girl I met at the store, her cat began to meow frantically as it clearly didn't understand what was going on.
My feet shook as I stood up to see another girl with silver hair, she wore a purple, gold, and white hood. Her breats seemed unnaturally shapely and large.
"Welcome to the afterlife, young ones." She said, I felt a nauseous pit in my stomach and looked over at the girl who had apparently died alongside me. "My name is Eris the goddess of luck! I am here to help and guide people who unfortunately pass away too early in life. It seems I have multiple guests right now." She gave a soft and warm smile and stood up to look at us.
Puck had managed to make his way out of the bag, he seemed angry. The silver haired girl picked him up and patted him on the head. "Puck, don't be like that!" He pouted. "Eris-san I don't seem to understand. Did I really die?"
"I am sorry but it is the truth, A pipe had bursted and the ground collapsed into itself. I have an offer for you however." Eris looked between us and began to speak again. "There is a world in need. A terrible Devil King has savaged the lands and ruined thousands of lives. I request that you go to this world and stop this Devil King."
"Hold up!" I looked into Eris's eyes with a glare. "How is someone like me meant to stop some Devil King when the last 5 times I left my room was to buy snacks." I held up the bag to show it.
"That is part of the offer, Subaru-Kun." She passed her hand in the air and an array of papers floated before falling to the ground. "Unfortunately because you are all part of the same group I cannot offer more than 1 skill. However you shall have as much time as needed to select whichever best suits this party. Subaru-Kun, Emilia-Kun, Puck-San please."
Each of these papers had a unique skill. Super strength, unlimited mana, double leveling, hyper intelligence.
There were dozens of them all lined up perfectly. I looked at Emilia who seemed rather distraught. I sympathize with her but to me, this was an exciting new adventure! An opportunity like no other to live in a fantasy world and conquer the terrible Devil King!
"Emilia-san was it?" She looked over at me. "Are there any you're interested in?" I thought letting her choose might ease the transition. I could work myself up if I had to.
"There's this one that caught my eye" In her hand was a paper saying Devine Magic, loads a set of high skill magic stronger than even the strongest mages. Revive able to bring the dead to life. God Blow, a powerful punch able to kill enemies instantly. Along with a wide variety of others. Puck hopped out of her arms and began to wander around the papers. He sat on top of Hyper Intelligence. "I'll let you pick whichever, you don't seem too excited about this."
"I appreciate that. If we have to kill this Devil King then I guess I should pick something like this."
Eris spoke up again "Um. You don't have to fight the Devil King but I would like you to. It is my suggestion."
"Sounds like a blast to me! I'm sure I'll be able to take 'em down with some strong party members!"
"Perhaps you should choose then." Emilia said to me.
"If you say so." I smiled at her and looked back down at the papers.
Puck seemed bored and sat up kicking Hyper Intelligence up into the air. He swatted at it and threw it further. "Puck stop that!" Emilia said, grabbing him. He bit onto the paper as she pulled him back. The corner was torn off.
A burst of light flashed from the paper and turned it into a ball of energy. It flowed into Puck's body. "Hey what's happening!" I shouted seeing the cat absorb this energy. He jumped out of Emilia's hands and opened his mouth.
"What happened!" He spoke and looked over at Eris.
"I can talk!" Puck jumped up and down and ran over to Emilia. She looked stunned and confused.
"It seems that the choice has been made." Eris raised her hands taking all the papers back. A bright blue circled us and when it disappeared. We were in the streets of a fantasy city. "Puck what did you do!" I shouted at him.
Kazuma POV:
I had ten thousand yen in my wallet. I'd been saving up for weeks. "It's here!" GTA 6! The game I had been wanting since I was a fetus. "I cant let anyone take this opportunity from me." Normally I would order a game online, I keep hard copies of everything I own to preserve my storage. "Gotta go fast." I muttered to myself. "See ya later! Ill be back in about 2 hours!" I yelled to my parents, unable to control my excitement. This also happened to be the first time I'd be leaving my house in a month.
In my middle school days I memorized my way to the game store and back. The adrenaline rushing through my body made me run to the store as fast as possible. There was sure to be a line and I needed to get there as early as possible!
I had to pass a busy roadway on the way, I looked to cross the road and noticed a girl with bright blue hair who tripped onto the street. Is she going to be okay? I wondered to myself. Then I realized it. No… She wouldn't be okay. A large truck began to come closer. I saw my opportunity. I may be a shut-in NEET but I wasn't cruel and heartless. Plus who knows, maybe this will be the start of my haram. I ran across the street bracing myself to hit the ground hard. She was close, I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet making sure to make my face look as attractive as possible. The truck was close. Mere meters away I took a step forward and felt something hit my left. "Oww!"
I was standing in a dark room next to the girl I tried to save. Another girl stood in front of us.
"Welcome to the afterlife, young ones. I am the goddess of luck Eris!" I looked to my right. The girl. Her hair was bright blue, so was her entire outfit pretty much. She looked over at me and opened her mouth. "What the hell was that?"
I didn't know what to say. I was stunned. I thought I was saving someone from a truck… but… WE BOTH DIED!
"I tried to save you." I muttered
"Good job. I'm impressed with those skills. You're truly a hero. I feel saved!" She said to me, giving a smile. I could tell it was fake.
"I appreciate it!" I made sure to keep up the same energy.
"If you will excuse me. I am a goddess here to gui-"
"Guide us to the afterlife. We will get super OP abilities and be tasked with defeating the all powerful Demon King! I've watched enough of these anime to know what's going on.
"It's actually the Devil King."
I felt a bit embarrassed but pushed on. I had a beautiful goddess in front of me. I didn't wanna embarrass myself further.
"In Fact you are correct." The goddess presented a flow of papers all having special abilities.
The blue haired girl sat down and began to look through the papers. Oddly she seemed to get over the fact that she died quite fast. She fixated on one titled Divine Magic. "Oi, Eris-San can I ask a question?"
"Sure! Go ahead."
"Would this girl have died If I didn't help?"
"Well… From what I can see she would have died either way." That stung a bit, I wasted my life on someone who would have died no matter what. She looked up at me after staring at the papers.
"That's a relief." She said "Hey! what do you mean by that!" I shouted
"I wanted to go to a fantasy world with magic. You almost mucked that up for me."
"Are you ridiculous! What if there was no fantasy world to go to."
"I guess I would reincarnate back in Japan."
I squinted my eyes at her. I knew it was a mistake trying to rescue her!
I looked over my options for an ability but I heard an unfortunate piece of information.
"Just so you know only one paper is able to be selected between the two of you."
My heart dropped hearing this. I need to choose fast so that way i'm the one getting it. I grabbed a paper and began to stand. The blue bitch was already standing! Ripping a paper in half and taking the ability!
"No! What are you doing!" I reached for the paper and snagged it out of her hands but it was too late. I lost my chance. My time in this world seemed to already be doomed.
A blue glow came out of the floor circling us and lifting us up and when it faded we were in the streets of a world with magic and monsters. I was pissed.
"You damn idiot! Why would you jump in front of that truck! What girl jumps in front of a truck and doesn't expect a courageous guy to jump in and save her!"
"I never asked you to do that. It was entirely your fault."
"So genius, what's your bright plan now that you've dragged us into this place."
"Well, I'm not sure."
"I got dragged into some stupid world with an idiot before GTA 6!"
"You got any ideas?"
"No."
We walked down the street aimlessly for about 15 minutes. I was still sulking. I had to accept this fate. I still didn't like it.
"So. What's your name?"
"Oh yeah. You are just following around some girl who you just met. Tried to save and failed terribly."
"Don't say it like that! Where else am I meant to go? At least you're from the same place as me."
"Aqua Ayanami. What's yours?"
"Kazuma Satou."
With that out of the way I decided to look for an adventurer's guild. Seemed like the most reasonable thing to do, this world was meant to be like an MMORPG after all. "I think thats it." There were a bunch of people who looked like adventures around with a sign saying guild. If this isn't the place then it didn't exist.
We went inside and up to the desk. I decided the best course of action would be an adventurer. That's what I always did in the games.
"The registration fee is three thousand Eris!" The receptionist seemed too happy to be asking for my non-existent cash.
I pulled out my wallet and slapped five thousand Yen on the desk. "Accept this?"
"Unfortunately we do not. You're not the first person today to ask that. Odd?"
Defeated, I went and sat at a table. Trying to think of a plan. If I couldn't get money without the card. I'll have to beg. That idea didn't seem so appealing. Maybe a loan? Then I'd need to go to a bank…
Aqua soon sat down across the table from me unable to get a card of her own. She soon had the same Idea as me.
"I'm gonna go ask those people over there for some spare change."
She wandered off somewhere.
I turned my attention to what I thought sounded like a young boy. What's he doing here? Well, it turns out that boy was a cat.
"Oi! Your cat talks!"
I went over to their table fascinated by the thing.
"Hi! I'm Puck!" He said to me,
"I didn't know this place had talking cats. Maybe it ain't too bad after all! Your fur is so soft!"
"I've made sure to take good care of him. He was a birthday present from my mom when I was 9."
The people sitting with him didn't look like the others. The guy wore a tracksuit just like mine, with different colors. The girl wore a white hoodie.
Aqua came back clearly upset. "They didn't give me anything," She said, pointing at a man drinking at the bar.
"What? You expected him to give away his life savings for you?"
"I was hoping for at least a thousand."
"You two are also looking for cash? I ran into that roadblock just now." The guy said to me
"They won't accept this and that's all I got." I pulled my Yen out to show them.
"Same issue here."
"You're from Japan too aren't you."
"Yeah… I got here like 20 minutes ago." I sat next to him, finally having someone other than Aqua to talk to. "Say, what's your name?"
"Subaru Natsuki! I'm broke as they come looking to defeat the Devil King!" He stuck a pose with his finger pointed up in the air. I got second hand embarrassment from that.
"What ability did you pick?"
"This guy stole our choice!"
He pointed at Puck, clearly salty about that.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know what I was doing! It looked fun."
"Reminds me of someone I know" I glared back at Aqua.
"You probably would've picked something like infinite money! At least I got the strongest one there was."
"The money would come in useful now wouldn't it? Plus, I was gonna pick double leveling."
Aqua sat down across from Emilia. We had all exchanged names by this point. We never officially confirmed it but we all came from Japan, from the clothes we wore to the knowledge of our abilities it was obvious.
Subaru and Emilia seemed to enjoy this new world, while me and Emilia both were quite apprehensive about this. Puck was just excited he could talk.
"I'm gonna go talk to the receptionist." Getting up I went to the front once more. "Do we need a card to take quests?"
"No, but to be able to level up and learn skills a card will be required."
"Thank you!"
I rushed back to the table talking before I even sat down. "We take a quest and use its money to get our cards! Aqua is (supposed) To be strong so if we use her for this we'll be able to do it!"
"You're right! I didn't think we'd be able to take a quest though." Subaru stood up and was also excited by this idea.
"I talked to her and she said it aloud. We just wouldn't be able to actually level up from it."
"Sounds like a plan!"
And so it was settled. We'd be using Aqua to pay our registration fee. This was ridiculous but our only option."
"So Kazuma, I guess my choice was the correct option." Aqua said while elbowing me in the stomach.
"For this moment maybe. Mine would've worked better in the long term."
"Keep deceiving yourself." She gave a cheeky smile and walked past me.
We ended up going with a quest that required killing frogs. It seemed simple enough and the reward per frog was four thousand Eris. We would only need to kill four to get all the money needed.
We stepped out into the fields and gazed upon the frogs we would soon slaughter.
"I know they said giant but isn't this a bit much?" A toad jumped in front of Aqua. It was at least double her height and ten times as heavy.
"It's what we have. so deal with it. Subaru, go left!"
The plan we had was simple, Subaru and I would jump on top and pull its mouth open. Aqua would use her magic to kill it from the inside. Emilia would register its death on the quest sheet. And of course, Puck would direct us on what to do. He came up with this plan afterall.
I latched onto the back of the frog's leg, managed to squirm my way up onto its slippery back and grabbed its mouth. Subaru did the same.
"THREE! TWO! ONE!" We shouted in unison pulling it open.
Aqua raised her hand to cast a spell.
"Hurry up! We can't hold this much longer!" She somehow still had not casted anything yet and our arms were getting tired.
"God Blow!" She punched its touch. The frog didn't even flinch.
"Heh' sorry froggie."
It bit down on her taking her entire front half in. Raised her up into the air and swallowed.
"Dambit you idiot!" I fell off the frog and sat on the ground panting. This was the most physical thing I'd done in months.
We heard a muffled voice from inside the frog, it seemed to deflate and spit her back out.
"THAT STUPID FROG!" Aqua was covered in the frogs slime and whatever other fluids it had inside it. She fell back onto the ground.
"Why did you try and punch it? What was that meant to do?"
"I couldn't remember what other magic I had! That's all I could think of."
"You've got two more to deal with so whatever you did to take that one down, do it again!"
"Okay. Fine."
She stood up and we walked over to another frog. This time we went to attack from behind.
"Alright. Subaru same thing as last time."
"Yup! Got it!"
He rubbed his hands together and jumped on its back as did I. This one was more slippery than the last. I felt myself begin to slip off. "Dammit." I kicked off its leg and managed to get onto its head.
We opened its mouth and as it attempted to wiggle us off. Aqua ran to the front. The frog bent down attempting to eat her.
"Sacred Light!"
A flash of light appeared in her hand. She threw it into the frog's throat and it sizzled for a moment and fell down deflating.
"How was that for a kill!"
"Nice one!" I gave her a thumbs up while sliding down the frogs back. My tracksuit has gotten quite slimy from all this.
"Onto the next!" Puck started running to the next frog.
The last frog. Subaru and I positioned ourselves the same as last time. We hopped up and grabbed it mouth pulling it open. Aqua ran to the front and began to cast her spell.
Unfortunately, the frog flipped forward, launching me off its back. I hit the ground hard flopping forward onto my face. It hurt like hell.
"Kazuma you good?" Subaru shouted.
"No." I muttered back.
The frog shook itself and he lost his grip. He fell next to it then the frog charged forward stepping on his chest and knocking Aqua off her feet.
"Get back here, damn frog!" She charged at it grabbing onto its food.
It turned back, kicking her off itself. I got up and reorganized myself. "Aqua get ready!" I ran over as the frog began to open its mouth. I put my hands on the roof of its mouth holding it open.
"Kill it!"
"Sacred Light!"
She threw the light into its mouth, I jumped backward as the frog fell, landing right on Aqua.
"Get me out of here!"
The rest of us lifted it up and pushed it to the side. My body was exhausted. We returned to the guild with our money. Aqua was covered in frog liquids and her clothes ruined. Subaru and I also had some on us but not nearly as much. Emilia got the easy path because Puck gave the rest of us real tasks.
We all went to the desk and Emilia turned in our quest. "The four of us would like to register with the guild please."
"Very well. I see you have the appropriate amount of funds."
We got handed cards and were asked to choose classes. I chose adventurer, nice and simple, Aqua chose arch priest, Subaru chose knight, and Emilia chose shamen.
I scanned my card in to see the stats I got. My luck happened to be quite high along with my intelligence. Though the rest, like raw strength, was quite mediocre.
Aqua happened to get high stats in every category except intelligence. It made sense, her Divine Magic was meant to give an insanely strong start. Subaru got the lowest luck out of all of us. He has quite high strength and good speed along with intelligence equal to mine. Emilia got moderate luck, but super high mana and magical ability.
Puck wasn't able to get a card but I imagine he would've gotten the highest intelligence of us all.
"So where can newbies like us sleep for the night." I asked
"There's some horse stables that's been commitened for adventures to sleep." She handed me a map that would help us locate it.
"Thanks…"
We walked back to the table that we met at.
"Well it was fun working with you two. We should do this again sometime." Subaru said while offering a handshake to me.
I accepted "Yup. It was good. Wouldn't say fun though."
Aqua and I left the guild and began to make our way to the stables. She was still a mess and wanted to wash off.
The stables were quite small. There was a bath behind it with free shirts and pants to change into. Thank goodness for that, we had zero cash to buy any sleepwear.
After we cleaned up and changed, the sun started going down. It had been about 8 hours in this world so far and it was off to a bad start.
The stable was small and filled with hay, quite an appealing place to spend the night, let alone multiple.
"This place sucks doesn't it." I flopped down on the hay quickly hitting the hard dirt underneath.
"I agree, I should be in a much better place than this."
"You got us into this mess, deal with it."
"I never asked you to run into the street. I'm innocent."
She sat down on the hay and threw a bundle into the air. "We're gonna make enough to get out of here by next week."
"You sure about that? Those frogs gave you some real trouble and they're the easiest around."
"That's cause i'm still level one! Just wait a bit, I'll be able to take care of them like ants."
"I'll wait till I see it."
The sun had fully set now and I got up to look out the small window. The stars were bright and visible like I'd never seen them before. Back in Tokyo the light pollution had obscured the night sky terribly. There was even a shooting star flying across the sky.
"What's so interesting out there?"
"The stars. I've never seen them like this."
She walked over and pushed me out of the way a bit. To also look out the window. "It's like my Grandparents farm. I used to visit all the time when I was little."
"Did you always live in Tokyo?"
"No. Just for the last couple years."
"I see. That's where I've been all my life. Haven't Left the city once. Except for now."
"That's dumb. You need to experience more in your life." Aqua turned around and went to sit down again.
"Not like I had much choice in the matter! My parents worked their asses off to provide for me and my brother."
"Oh. Well think about it, I've given you this opportunity to see and live in a whole new world. You should be grateful."
"Bullshit. Why would I be grateful to someone who got themselves and another person killed."
"Like I said many times. It was never a goal to kill anyone else."
"Whatever. It's already done. I guess this is a bit better than my old life though."
"And what exactly was your old life?"
"Boring."
"Boring? That's it? I'm sure you had something going on."
"Unless you consider playing games all day something then you're in for disappointment."
"So… you were a NEET." She covered her smile with her hand and terribly controlled an obnoxious laugh.
"Shut up! This is why I wasn't gonna tell anyone. What's so interesting about your life!?"
"Um… I at least went to school, had friends, and have visited the majority of Japan."
"Sounds like a normal life for someone like you. I don't see what's so great about that."
"SHUT UP YOU TWO!" An angry man shouted looking over the walls separating the rooms.
"Yes sir." Aqua and I said in unison.
I laid down on the scratchy and stiff straw. "We better be out of here by next week."
"As long as you don't leave it all up to me we can do it."
"Deal."
We laid down trying to sleep, mostly to not upset anymore people.
"Hey, at least you get to sleep next to a beautiful girl. I'm sure a NEET like you hasn't ever done that."
"That's the worst part of this place."
"Excuse me!"
Authors notes:
Decided to try writing a FanFic again. I did it once with Evangelion and didn't get invested into the story and dropped it. I hope this one ends up turning out better. So far I've enjoyed writing it and I think the quality is much better than before. Anyways hope this first chapter was enjoyable. I'm using this to try and expand my writing skills plus write a fun story.
See ya in the next chapter!