Details:
{} Messages inside are the group chat messages.
[] This is the system.
A young woman could be seen sleeping on the couch of a large room.
Her long hair cascaded over the sofa like a waterfall. She had a small build but with rather… *cough *cough …remarkable attributes, and she wore a white dress.
Suddenly, an object fell from nowhere and hit her on the forehead.
"*Aargh! What the hell is this, Hephaestus? I already said I'm getting up!" said the young woman, looking indignant.
As she rubbed her forehead to ease the pain, she noticed there was no one else in the room.
"Huh? Am I still dreaming?" As she stood up—
*Crack*
she realized she had stepped on something.
"A mirror… was that what hit me?" When she touched the center of the mirror, blue lines began to spread across her arm, forming strange letters before disappearing.
Before she could even react, letters appeared on the mirror and reflected onto her arm:
{Invitation to the group chat}
{Have you ever thought about finding the best members for your family and surpassing all the other gods even the goddess Loki? They'll all be in this group chat. Join the group and bless them with your power.}
{Accept} {Decline}
"What's this? It must be a gift from some god who recognized my humility and kindness. Just wait, Loki I'll build a family twice… no, ten times better than yours," the young woman said, resolutely clicking {Accept}.
---
In a completely different world, a girl could be seen sipping jasmine tea while scrolling through her phone on a park bench.
She had pale skin, large blue eyes, and very long light-blue hair that reached her legs. She wore a fitted vest and a green school skirt.
Suddenly, a message appeared on her screen:
{Invitation to the group chat}
{When we're children, we all dream of becoming heroes. And when we become heroes, what do we dream of? Saving as many people as possible. You, heroine, have been chosen as one of the members of a group tasked with saving the entire universe. Lend them your strength.}
{Accept} {Decline}
"Wow, what a touching speech. Unfortunately, Ryuku told me all these pop-ups are viruses. It'd be amazing to save the universe like in comic books," the girl said aloud, unfazed by the strange looks she was getting.
Without noticing, blue lines appeared on her arm, forming unreadable letters before fading in seconds.
Without thinking twice, she clicked Decline.
{Are you sure you want to decline? We don't offer the invitation twice.}
{Accept} {Decline}
"Yes, I decline," she said, clicking again.
{Are you absolutely, positively sure you want to decline?}
{Accept} {Decline}
"I said yes! Stop interrupting me while I'm watching my reels," she snapped, growing irritated.
{Accept the invitation our heroes need you. This isn't a virus.}
{Decline} {Accept}
"I'm not goi...what a sneaky virus! I just hope it doesn't pop up with a purple monkey dancing on the screen this time," the girl muttered, clearly annoyed at having fallen for the trick.
"Well, since there's no going back now, let's see what this is about," she said, curiosity replacing irritation.
---
In a room built in traditional Japanese style, a woman could be seen working with flasks containing an unknown liquid.
She had large eyes with no visible pupils, just a gradient violet mist, making them look almost insect-like. Her black hair, tipped with purple, was tied in a short bun with two strands framing her face.
She wore a purple button-up shirt paired with purple pants, and over the shirt, a haori whose back resembled butterfly wings.
At her waist was a white belt holding a thin sword, as if there hadn't been enough metal to finish forging it.
She approached a small cage on the table, where a rat was trapped, and poured the contents of the flask over it.
The rat spun around in panic, trying to escape, until after several minutes it stopped twitching and died.
"Too weak. This level of poison couldn't kill even a lower moon, let alone an upper one," the woman said, tossing the cage into the trash as if the rat wasn't worth a glance.
"I'll have to send a letter to request more resources mine are almost gone," she said, sitting at the table, picking up a scroll, a quill, and some ink.
But as soon as she unrolled the parchment and touched it, blue lines shot up her arms, forming indecipherable letters before vanishing.
Startled, she jumped from her seat, drawing her sword and taking a defensive stance, ready to respond to the slightest movement.
"Who's there? If you reveal yourself willingly, I promise to kill you in the least painful way I can," she warned, standing still for dozens of minutes, waiting for an attack but nothing happened.
Cautiously, she approached the parchment, senses sharp and ready to react at the smallest provocation.
Words now appeared where the scroll had been blank:
{You've been invited to the group chat}
"Have you ever felt weak or even inferior to others? Then join the group chat and attain a strength you never thought possible. Accept the invitation avenging your sister will be the easiest of your tasks. Unleash your poisonous hatred on your enemies, and do it for the sake of your allies."
{Accept} {Decline}
"What is this, some kind of demonic art? But if what it says is true, and I can avenge my sister… then the devil may take my soul and my life," she said, touching {Accept} with the tip of her sword.
---
{3rd POV}
These names explain themselves as to who the characters are.
While Haruto was lost in thought, the first notifications arrived:
{Nejire chan: What kind of virus is this? Looks like a cheap WhatsApp knockoff.}
{Nejire chan: How come this thing shows up with my hero name? Is this some kind of quirk?}
'system, did the goddess summon people without telling them what this is about?' Haruto thought it seemed she had simply dragged them into this mess.
[Based on what I've gathered about the Goddess's personality, she probably offered them something they wanted and left the mess of the universe for you to handle.]
{Devourer: First, this isn't a virus. Second, could you explain how you ended up here in this chat?}
{Nejire chan: They said the universe needed me, like in those cartoons where the hero is chosen. But when I tried to refuse, I got tricked and ended up joining. So, it's not a virus?}
{Devourer: Not a virus and the universe really is in danger.}
{Devourer: I'll summarize for you and the other two members who seem shy. There are two goddesses who created the universe: one of Creation and one of Destruction. They fought, and Creation lost. Now the Goddess of Destruction wants to wipe out our universe. Our mission is to save the Goddess of Creation and stop the servants of the Goddess of Destruction from destroying the worlds they're called the Order of Collapse.}
{Devourer: This chat serves as a bridge between worlds, helping us work together toward a greater goal.}
{Devourer: If you were called to this group, it's because the Goddess saw potential in you. I hope we can support each other in difficult times and celebrate our triumphs together.}
{Nejire chan: For someone who said "I'll summarize," that's a huge wall of text :0. So, you're from another world?}
{Devourer: Yes, though it's probably hard for anyone to believe. Each of us here is from a different world.}
{Nejire chan: Does your world have magic, like Harry Potter? Or maybe a Justice League? Do you have two hands and legs? Do you eat normal food?}
{Devourer: You really do ask a lot of questions. But yes, I'm basically a normal human, and there's no magic here. Still, my world isn't the only one that exists.}
Meanwhile, the small girl staring at the mirror, still confused, saw an opportunity to join the conversation but someone else spoke up first.
{Little Butterfly: So you're saying the promises aren't real?}
{Devourer: I don't know what promises those are, but if the Goddess made you one, I'll fulfill it in her place. After all, she helped me at my lowest point.}
{Devourer: The same goes for all of you if she made a promise, I'll keep it for her. I've got things to do, so I hope you all enjoy chatting.}
After finishing his interaction with the chat members, Haruto stood and stretched.
[What's so urgent that it's more important than the group chat?]
"Obviously this house. Even a beggar under a bridge is living better than us."
"We need to find some furniture and cleaning supplies," Haruto said as he left the house.
[And with what money?]
"I have no idea. We'll figure it out along the way. What's life without a few setbacks, right?"
Haruto slammed the door shut as he left, which caused it to fall off its hinges, startling the nearby bugs.
He kept walking, pretending not to have heard anything.
[Host, I don't know if you noticed, but…]
"I don't know what you're talking about, system. The door is perfectly fine," he replied.
P.S.: Thank you so much for supporting this story! I'm really happy to see people enjoying my work.