Minogahara Academy, February 14, Class 3-F.
"Ahhhhh, I want a girlfriend so bad." Amidst the chatter of the students in the classroom, the one who made such a bold declaration was a young boy of average height, he had neck long black hair in a ponytail and red eyes that always seemed to be glaring, a cool looking face and a beauty mark under his eye with earrings on both ears. He was resting his head on the desk before another young boy.
"This again?" The young boy who was humoring the red eyed boy asked, he had short blonde hair and green eyes which had spectacles over them, his appearance would make one think he was a foreigner.
"What do you mean 'this again?' Are you ridiculing me? You think you can ridicule me just because you have a girlfriend?" The red eyed boy flared but his conversation partner didn't seem to mind as he kept writing something on a fancy note, as if he was already used to something such antics.
"If you want a girlfriend so bad then why do you keep rejecting the girls who ask you out?" He queried.
"Ahhhh, you don't get it at all, Milo ("My name is Mihas") . Listen, I don't want girls from the same grade or lower, what I want is a girlfriend who is an upperclassman, a girlfriend who I would see in the distance and then yell "senpai~" and then she would turn around to look at me and be like "oh, if it isn't kouhai-kun", exactly Milo! ("Still Mihas") What I want is a girlfriend I can call senpai." The red eyed boy went on a passionate tirade. "Is that so much to ask for?!"
"Hmm, I guess not." The blonde haired, green eyed boy now identified as Milo or Mihas seemed to agree with him. "But you see, Oddie, we… aren't we third year students?"
A lull seemed to pass in the conversation.
"Stooop, stooop it!" The red eyed boy named Oddie for short, yelled placing his hands on his ears. "I don't want to face this reality!"
"Anyway, putting that aside." Mihas continued.
"Hey! Why are you putting aside my midlife crisis?!" Oddie exclaimed.
"So, Oddie…" Mihas squinted his eyes at him as he put the cap on the pen he had been using to write. "How many chocolates have you received today?"
"Ehhhhh? How did you know I received chocolate?! Are you perhaps an esper, Milo! Or do you dabble in the arts of sorcery?" Oddie replied, looking suspiciously at him.
Mihas sighed.
"Man, you are really amazing, you know? Despite your cluelessness, girls still fawn over you and give you chocolates like this." Mihas shook his head as if he was pitying him. "Why did you think you got chocolate from someone today?"
"Huh, what sort of question is that? It's a normal day isn't it? I mean, I get chocolate like this everyday from various people so it's not like it's anything new right?" Oddie asked.
"Wait, what?!" Slamming his hands on the table and leaning towards Oddie who is sitting before his desk, Mihas looked surprised. "You get chocolate everyday even though it's not Valentines?"
"What, today is Valentine's Day?!" Oddie asked as he quickly pulled out his smartphone, confirming the date. "You are right! I didn't notice at all."
Mihas sighed as he sat back down. "Ahhh, what was I expecting? Of course you wouldn't know, for someone like you, this might as well be a normal day. You are not known as Cupid for nothing after all."
"I still don't know why I have such a nickname, I who is missing out on youth and romance have no right to such a title! Milo, is this bullying? This is bullying, right?"
"It's not, you fool!" Mihas was getting tired of this guy, he's always like that.
"Alright everyone! Take your seat…" A feminine voice cut into the conversation and chattering, what followed that voice was students walking over to their designated seat. "Homeroom is about to begin."
The one who walked into the classroom was a young lady wearing red tracksuit, she had black eyes with black hair in a high ponytail.
She was the homeroom and track instructor, Miss Najimi Fuko.
The teacher stood on the podium before the class as everyone took their respective seats and then all of a sudden, a depressive aura surrounded her as she sighed loudly.
"You know guys, what even is Valentine's?"
Seeing the teacher like that, what went through everyone's mind was "Ah, not again."
She let her head fall on the podium as she continued in a monotone voice. "Is it sweet? It's supposed to be sweet right? So why is my valentine bitter? Hey, are you guys listening? I mean, in the first place, who is the idiot that decided we needed to give out chocolate on what is supposed to be a death remembrance? Ah dammit!!! I hope you stub your toe and step on Legos for the rest of your life, Yasu!!!!" She yelled, balling her fist to the air.
All of a sudden, her phone rang.
"Hello… huh, is that so?!… ah, I see. Okay, later then."
Looking down at her phone for a moment, she looked back at the class.
"Banzai for Valentine!!!" She yelled, the previous depressive aura disappearing into excitement.
"Fuko-sensei, like, you are going to get your heart broken again, for real." A girl sitting in the front row beside the window said, she was Akiko Toru, she had peach colored eyes, blonde hair with strawberry tips styled in twin tails with pink hair bands, she had a black choker around her neck and she was wearing white loose socks almost at knee length and a brown baggy sweater over her uniform and she had long trimmed nails with ear piercings, her look was based on gyaru fashion. Despite her visage, she had the demeanor of a cold and distant person.
"Don't worry Toru, my heart is made of steel." Fuko-sensei replied, putting her fist to her chest and preening proudly.
"Sensei… you said that last month." Another girl replied. Minoru Yuuki. She was a short girl with a cute appearance. She had blue eyes with short light brown hair with bangs and an ahoge dangling at the top, although she had a cute look, her tongue was often as sharp as razors.
"A-anyway…"
Sensei shamelessly ignored her.
"There have been reports of unusual incidents happening in the area, so everyone is advised not to loiter around after school… I am especially looking at you, Miyamoto." She pointedly looked at a young boy sitting at the back row of the class, Hiroshi Miyamoto, the boy had a weary expression with bags under his eyes. He had short black hair and black eyes with a loose scarf tied around his neck.
"What about people who have club activities?" He asked.
"Club activities are on hold till further notice." She responded.
"Fuko-sensei, what exactly are these incidents?" Oddie asked, resting his elbow on the desk with his cheek on his palm.
"Hmm? Well, there is not enough information really but so far there have been cases of hospitalized victims who seem to not have any recollections of getting attacked, but one thing they have all had in common is extreme tiredness and even…" She shook her head. "Just tiredness, nothing else is confirmed… anyway—" She started again, seemingly trying to change the topic.
Oddie narrowed his eyes at that.
Could it be? He wondered.
"—I'm taking the attendance. Respond when you hear your name." She continued.
•••
Closing hours, behind school gym.
Minogahara Academy had a plethora of infrastructures that made school activities easy to carry out. It was a school with a long history of sportsmanship so they had facilities ranging from football field, an indoor basketball court, a volleyball area, a pool, a tennis court, a running track and so on.
It is the most renowned public high school in the area, and even though the entrance requirements are high, it consisted of at least several hundred students with a total of thirty classes.
Currently two students were standing at the back of the school gym, one was a young girl with long black hair with a shade of blue styled in two braids resting in front of her shoulders, with a blue hair band on her head that had a bow on it, she had grey eyes and she was wearing a black winter jacket over her uniform.
"Cupid-senpai, this is for you!" She bowed as she stretched her hands which was holding a box covered with fancy wrappers.
The person who was standing before her was Oddie.
"Eh? Is that okay? Today is Valentine's Day right? Are you sure you want to give this to me?" He asked tilting his head.
"Yes! Senpai has been very helpful to me since my first day in this school, that's why… I wanted senpai to have this." She replied, still not lifting her head, hands still outstretched.
Oddie looked at her for a bit. To be honest, he doesn't remember her at all but somehow he had helped her? More than once for that matter? At this point, he doesn't even know because apparently she is not the only one who has given him a gift today for such reasons.
"Okay then, I'll graciously accept it." He replied as he carefully took it off her hands.
The girl looked up at him with wide eyes, her lips breaking into a smile.
"By the way, what's your name, kouhai-chan?" Oddie asked.
"Kou…hai-chan…" She repeated, tasting the word.
"Senpai, it's okay to call me kouhai-chan…" She giggled. "I don't mind it."
Eh, could it be that this girl was one of his people?
Oddie laughed. "Then how about this, kouhai-chan…" Reaching into his blue shoulder bag, he brought out a chocolate bar and presented it to her. "I bought this earlier today, you can have it."
"R-really, senpai?! I can have this?" She asked, looking surprised.
Oddie wondered whether she liked chocolate that much.
"Of course, since you went out of your way to gift me this, it's only natural that I reciprocate, right?"
"Senpai…" She held the chocolate bar to her chest as she smiled brightly. "Thank you!"
•••
"Thank you for your purchase!"
Oddie steps out of the cafe, a cup of strawberry boba tea on his right hand as the streetlights illuminate him.
This was one of his favorite drinks.
Taking a sip as he walks, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he reached into it with his left hand to bring it out.
As he unlocked his phone, he read the message he had just received.
Miko-sama: O-kun, where are you?
Miko-sama: ?? I just left Lotus? What is it?
He continued to sip on his drink as he walked and not long after, he received another message.
Miko-sama: I want boba.
Me: …Wait a minute, it couldn't be that you're telling me to walk back to the cafe right?
Miko-sama: Like, that's what I'm saying though.
Me: Hey, you remember what sensei said today right? Unusual incidents… it's already dark out, what if something happens to me on my way home?
Miko-sama: You will be fine, like come on.
Oddie sighed, having anticipated that response.
It's just like her.
Me: Fine, fine, you'll make it up to me anyways.
Miko-sama: That's why I like you, Cupid-kun.
Me: I know you're the reason behind that nickname, you know?…
Miko-sama: I wasn't trying to hide it… anyway, get me cheesecake and red velvet cake as well. Thank you…
Oddie looked at the message with a groan.
"This girl…"
Knowing that she might pull silly pranks on him if he doesn't oblige, he decided to go back to the cafe to get what she asked for.
"Thank you for your purchase!"
Oddie stepped out of the cafe once again, Toru's request in his left hand.
He looked up, seeing that it was starting to snow, it was friday so there were various people milling about who seemed to be making their way home.
"I guess I should start heading—"
A shift in the air.
"…come on." He whined as he started to speed walk, which then turned into a jog.
This is why he wanted to go home early, he really didn't want to deal with something like this today.
Having jogged for around five minutes, he finally came before an alleyway.
In that alleyway, there was something weird going on. A boy was standing back before Oddie and in front of that boy was something that looked like it came straight out of a fantasy book.
It was a humanoid shape that seemed to be made of shadow, it had horns on both sides of its head, glowing red eyes with no Iris or pupil and mouth shaped in spikes of fangs, each of it's three long fingers ended in a sharp claw.
Fuck, as if it couldn't get any worse, Oddie thought.
Oddie, seeing that the boy was shaking from fear, dropped his bag quickly and then stretched his right hand to the side as if reaching for something.
But before Oddie could finish what he was about to do, something ridiculous happened.
The boy who had been shaking like a leaf all of a sudden went still then his stance relaxed and as the something that looked like it came out of a fantasy book roared and lounged at him, the boy stretched a hand before it and with a sound as if something was cutting through air, the humanoid shadow was cut into a dozen pieces in an instant and then it's remains started to flake away.
Oddie watched, bewildered as all this happened… and then his eyes drooped into a low stare.
The boy who had made quick work of what looked like a shadow monster snapped his head to look in Oddie's direction.
Oddie recognized that face, short black hair, eye bags under black eyes and a scarf around his neck.
"Miyamoto?" He asked, confused.
Since when did he?
Miyamoto stared at him for a bit before recognition flashed through his eyes.
"Holy shit, is that you Oddie?" He asked as if he was not believing his eyes.
Oddie felt that this situation was odd, as if something did not add up.
"Yeah… that's you, Miyamoto, right?" He asked warily.
"Yeah, it's me… I really came back…" Miyamoto's voice seemed to choke. "After five years… I'm finally back in this world."
Oddie frowned as Miyamoto started to laugh.
D-did this guy just get isekaid and back in an instant?