Chapter 2: Coneey-chi-what? Massachusetts?
"Machassussex?
"Machasussets?
"Massachuchets? No wait, that can't be.
"Macha … I'm sorry, but am I speaking it right? Am I in Macha-something?"
The elderly lady looked at her with a small smile and patted her on the head, her face betraying the absolute confusion she was feeling at that moment. She gifted the girl some green tea, and respectfully went away to do something else in the shop–anything, really!
Our girl was absolutely confused by it all. She hadn't remembered reading that there was such a significant portion of Japanese immigrants in the US, or that they lived anywhere near Mt. Rushmore.
But then, at least someone should have learned English already. She wasn't an expert on it, but she was sure she wasn't botching it all.
Was this some kind of replica of the American monument in Japan? It certainly explained a lot of things, as she looked at the monument once again.
George Washington did have quite the long hair on it. That wasn't right, at all.
But then what explained the abundance of blondes and redheads and coloured eyes and everything?
And just as she thought of that, she saw a man striding around with that weird headband and some traditional white clothes. But this man had white eyes! Completely white eyes?
She glanced once again all around herself, and suddenly it dawned on her the terrible predicament she was in.
She was not in Japan, she was not in Mt. Rushmore, perhaps she wasn't even in the USA. It was something worse:
"Konnichiwa, [something incomprehensible]!" said a funny-looking kid with a sword almost the size of himself strapped to his back. He too wore that strange headband.
It was indeed much worse: she was at an anime convention!
She went up quite a few sets of stairs of an observation tower of some kind–oh, there it was again, those dudes with the headbands!–to try and look around and see where the …
Dear God!
Someone should stop those kids! Jumping from roof to roof in the middle of the day and on top of such high buildings! She always said parkour was a bad influence on the next generation, but everyone underestimated the power of 'cool stunts compilations'!
Mesmerised with the scene, she couldn't help but wonder: if she was not in the US, where was she?
There were too many people not quite Japanese-looking, even if all of them had something of it (including herself); and she knew Japan wasn't a very popular destination for immigrants, so what was the deal with that?
If she was in an anime convention in the US, at least someone would have to know English. But then, this was too ellaborate for it to be just an anime convention.
No, there was something else happening. There were too many things not quite adding up.
And there she stood, hands on the rail while taking in the view and trying to come up with an explanation for all that.
One of the things which always struck me as interesting in the Gamer fan-fiction world was seeing the characters with very low INT or WIS stats make wonderful and well-planned decisions, and strategise their whole way through life based on the system that was suddenly available to them.
It is completely understandable, of course. After all, it is much more natural to put oneself as an observer to the character that is being created, even if immersion–when it is done masterfully–conjoin Player (or the reader or the writer) and Character. There still remains the distance between the 'mental' kind of statuses and the reflection upon the characters. An increase in STR means a harder punch or a more powerful kick; an increase in AGI means a swifter run or a more rapid dodge.
But what did INT and WIS do? There are some classical attributes to both of them, but their reflection in the characters are not as straightforward as those aforementioned.
And what indeed does LCK do? Oh, how lucky we are to have this story, then, aren't we?
Because only our dear character's lack of INT and WIS would justify her absolutely atrocious decision.
She thought hard about it, but couldn't come up with any answers. She repeated the names of her loved ones aloud one more time, and noted it took way less time to say it than the other times.
She felt herself getting dumber, she felt the memories washing away, she felt her arms and legs getting weaker, she felt scary and alone on top of that tower.
What was happening?
And as it all happened to her, a flash of a memory came to the forefront of her mind.
She remembered watching an episode of a cartoon (or anime, she supposed) with a blonde boy in cute-looking orange clothes, loud and boisterous, a bit dumb, but always unwilling to back down. She remembered seeing some memes about something called Talk no Jutsu, and seeing a lot of people complaining about how they all got too powerful in the end.
"Naruto," she whispered softly, as the wind blowed a million tiny leaves around her.
"That headband," she said, while looking at the leaves. "He had one, too."
She grabbed the handrail tightly as it downed upon her.
"Am I … am I in …"
And suddenly it appeared in front of her a glowing blue rectangle, floating, with an 'X' at the right upper corner.
『[Tutorial] Meta-knowledge unlocked. Parametres normalised. Welcome to the Shinobi World, [Select a name for your character or you will be given a randomised name before the next arc]!
She glanced at it, absolutely flabbergasted by it all. She wanted it to disappear–couldn't it see that she was in the middle of something there?
And just as she thought about it, it disappeared completely out of her vision.
She blinked and looked around to see if anyone was near. Nobody in the streets were looking in her direction, too, so she supposed this was all in her head.
She was really going crazy, after all.
And it seemed she hadn't even a minute to be miserable, as once again, that … thing appeared to bother her.
『[Tutorial] Welcome to the Shinobi World, a world full of danger, earth-shaking powers, intrigue, weapons, adventure and world-ending threats. Will you shape this world, or will you let it shape you? Will you rise to the test and conquer the challenges ahead? Good luck, [Select a name for your character or you will be given a randomised name before the next arc]!
And she had just finished reading it too when another message appeared.
『[Mod Info] – harryoftherubysword's Modpack: Enhanced UI, Smart Notification System, Better Balance, Bugfixes and Optimisation
『Update v. 2.1. 5 (2025-01-18)
『- Removed redundant tutorial screens
『- Less pop-up notifications: AI-assisted notification filter – Alpha version (please report any bugs)
『- Fixed: the debuff from letting Ichiraku ramen get cold will not be permanent anymore
『- The 'Perks' menu was moved from Stats (summ … [select to view more]
Well, at least someone was on her side! She hoped this harryoftherubysword dude wasn't playing with her–these notifications were really a pain in the …
But she spoke too soon, as yet again, a notification appeared.
『[Reward] – Meta-knowledge reward
『Congratulations on figuring it out. Despite your very low smarts, you recognised the universe you're in. Be prepared: knowing about it is only half the battle. You will receive 5 additional status points.
Oh, now she was beginning to get angry, as yet another notification appeared just as she closed the last one.
『[Info] – Status (Summary I)
『Name: [Select a name for your character or you will be given a randomised name before the next arc]
『General information: [Select a name for your character or you will be given a randomised name before the next arc]'s story is yet unknown. There are so many paths to take, so many decisions to make. She is a bit confused by the sudden changes, but the resilience in her past life and the way she is handling this new situation may help her become well-positioned in such a dangerous world. There is still much time left–she is only eight, after all, but terrible things are already lurking where the fire's shadow doesn't touch.』
『PE: ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ
『SE: ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ
『STR: 1 CON: 1 AGI: 3 STA: 1 INT: 1 WIS: 2 CHA: 2 LCK: 1
『You can distribute 10 status points.
Must she, though?
It was overwhelming, it was too much. She did not like videogames, she was not the biggest fan of cartoons or anime. Did she have to participate in that?
『Yes.
A single, cheeky notification appeared. She closed it all and tried to think once again, trying to remember everything that she could about Naruto. It wasn't much, sadly–or not, the thing had like one-thousand episodes, had it not?
But what she did remember frightened her: giant foxes, toads, a weird-looking pale dude that liked snakes a bit much, some edgy-looking dudes with magical pink-eye, there was even a monkey here and there.
And though she tried to think, a ping began to sound, every thirty seconds or so, while something shined red on the corner of her vision.
『You can distribute 10 status points.
She tried to ignore it, but the thing was relentless. She tried to, but couldn't. She thought about opening that window again.
'Let me see, a world with gigantic beings, kids breathing fire and magical eyes. I don't think STR or AGI will help me much. God, I can't believe I am trying to take this seriously. Here am I, in a fictional universe, trying to decide where to put my status points. None of those words are in the Bible. Why it was me? Why do I have so rotten luck?'
And then it downed on her.
Luck. She could use that.
She could use a whole lot of that.
After all, every one of those stories that kids enjoyed had a major thing in common: the protagonist didn't die–sometimes by their own effort, sometimes by tremendously on-the-face plot devices, and sometimes … sometimes by sheer, pure, dumb luck. Didn't like Harry Potter kill a thousand-year-old gigantic snake with lazer beams that petrified in the least and killed their targets? Wasn't he also bit by the thing and got out alive? Come to think of it, she remembered an episode where a giant snake had swallowed Naruto. That was it.
She poured all of her points into Luck.
『Congratulations on taking the 'Lucky Start'. Your adventure will soon begin. Very, very soon, indeed.
Wow, that did not sound ominous at all.
She left the rail to pace around to think more clearly.
But just as she got away from it, she stumbled on her own feet and smashed with full-force onto another session of the rail that just-so-happened not to have been properly installed.
She would've liked to say that as she fell, she had thought:
'Lucky start, my ***!'
But in all truth, the only thing on her mind (and on her throat) was:
"AHHHHHHH!"
Is this the end? Certainly not!
Do not be afraid, dear reader, for this is just the wonderful lucky start of a wondrous adventure.