03: Are You Gay?

Chatting with a girl was the only thing that many weebs like you could never properly do, and Natsuo was also the same.

In fact, if it were not for Rui, who asked him to fuck her because she was curious about sex, he would still be a virgin right now. Furthermore, although he looked very handsome right now, more than a year ago he actually looked very different. It was thanks to the suggestion of his best friend, Fumiya Kurimoto.

Fumiya convinced Natsuo to wear contact lenses instead of his glasses and to flatten his naturally curly hair.

"What should I say?" Natsuo muttered, staring at the message the Shapeshifting Assassin had sent. To make matters worse, the other two users who had been arguing nonstop earlier had suddenly stopped messaging, destroying his hope that her message would be buried beneath the flood of theirs.

Sister Leveler: [What?]

Shapeshifting Assassin: [Do you know anything about this chat group?]

Soulmate Sniffer: [You are clearly the admin. Are you the one who invited us? What is your motive?! If you are going to ask for my bank card, I will call the cops on you!]

"She is annoying." Natsuo saw the Soulmate Sniffer's texts and felt a huge headache. He didn't like this type of nasty, obnoxious girl. Even if he were to remain single for his entire life, he would never want someone like her as his girlfriend. Deciding to ignore her, he typed his answer to the Shapeshifting Assassin's question.

Sister Leveler: [I'm just like the rest of you. I have no idea what this chat group is. It suddenly appeared on my phone.]

Soulmate Sniffer: [Really?!]

Sister Leveler: [I think we should first get to know each other and figure out what this chat group is.]

Soulmate Sniffer: [Get to know each other? Are you flirting with me? Wait! This is a chat group for women, right? Are you gay?!]

Sister Leveler: [Fuck you!]

Soulmate Sniffer: [You wish!]

'Fuck this bitch!' The corner of Natsuo's eye twitched in irritation.

Sonless Mother: [How vulgar!]

Natsuo decided to ignore the rude woman entirely. If he kept bickering with her, it would only turn into another pointless argument, just like the one Sonless Mother had been stuck in with her earlier.

He didn't have time for that. More importantly, he wanted to figure out the identities of the people in this chat group. He already had a good guess about who the Shapeshifting Assassin was, but the other two... he had no clue.

Sister Levele: [My name is Natsuo Fujii. What's yours?]

Sonless Mother: [I am Hilda Boreas Greyrat!]

Shapeshifting Assassin: [Name is Chelsea.]

Soulmate Sniffer: [Kana Kimishima. Your name is Natsuo? So you're a man! No wonder you were trying to flirt with me! I knew it!]

Sister Leveler: [You should see a doctor. You're suffering from a severe case of narcissism.]

Sonless Mother: [And shamelessness.]

Shapeshifting Assassin: [Indeed, seek treatment while it's still curable.]

Soulmate Sniffer: [You! You guys!]

'Hahaha! Nice!' Natsuo felt some relief seeing her suffer. His eyes swept across their names before he quickly typed them into Google.

He already knew Chelsea. She had been a member of the Revolutionary Army before later joining Night Raid. As for Hilda Boreas Greyrat, he recognized her as well. She was Eris Boreas Greyrat's mother, one of the main heroines of 'Mushoku Tensei'.

He had a strong impression of 'Mushoku Tensei'. Back when he regained the memories of his past life last year, he had even considered copying it. Unfortunately, he soon discovered that it already existed in this world and had even been adapted into an anime.

As for Kana Kimishima, she was a character from 'Parasyte (Kiseijuu)'. Natsuo couldn't help but mutter, "Soulmate Sniffer... it suits her perfectly."

He also had some impression of Kana Kimishima, mostly from the OST 'Next To You'.

Natsuo suddenly had a thought and began fumbling through his profile page. A moment later, he found the option to change his username. He quickly changed Sister Leveler' to 'The Royal Blood Keeper'... I mean, to his name, 'Natsuo'.

Natsuo: [Ignore her, she's a lost cause.]

Shapeshifting Assassin: [You changed your username? How did you do that?]

Natsuo: [It seems the admin has that privilege; I can also change your usernames. Do you want me to?]

Sonless Mother: [I do! Please change mine to my name!]

Natsuo opened her profile and changed her username to Hilda. Her full name was too long, and he was too lazy to type the whole thing.

Natsuo: [Done.]

Hilda: [Thank you! I finally got rid of that irritating title!]

Chelsea: [Can you help me too?]

Natsuo did the same and changed her username to 'Chelsea'.

Chelsea: [Thanks!]

Soulmate Sniffer: [What about me?]

Natsuo acted as if he hadn't seen her message and began scrolling through the app, checking what other options it had. He soon found two grayed out tabs: "Shop" and "Interdimensional Travel."

When he tried to click on them, a warning popped up, informing him that both features were still locked and couldn't be accessed.

Soulmate Sniffer: [Hey, I am talking to you, are you ignoring me?!]

Natsuo: [Obviously.]

Soulmate Sniffer: [You!]

Kana was the carefree type who chased nothing but fun and entertainment. Perhaps because she often hung out with bullies and enjoyed picking on others, she had grown into someone so annoying and self entitled.

Hilda: [Change her name already. Otherwise, she won't shut up about it.]

All of them, except for Kana, who perhaps still believed this was just a normal chat group, wanted to learn more about the chat group and who had invited them. Hilda and Chelsea had never used phones before, so everything they were experiencing right now was completely new to them.

Natsuo: [Tsk! Fine.]

He had been planning to do it anyway, but he wanted to teach her a small lesson first. Since Hilda, who was older than him, had asked, he, as a model student who respected his elders and always helped others, had no choice but to follow her advice.

It absolutely had nothing to do with the fact that she was a sexy redheaded MILF... Absolutely nothing!

Kana: [That's more like it!]

Chelsea: [Why is it called the Dead Girls Chat Group?]

Kana: [Yeah. This chat group sounds like it's only for girls, so why was a guy invited?]

Hilda: [That's not the point. Don't you find the name ominous at all? It literally says "Dead Girls"!]

Kana: [Oh.]

The chat fell silent.

Hilda and Chelsea were both somewhat concerned by the name. Chelsea, who constantly lived on the edge of life and death with every assassination she carried out, had developed a keen instinct for things like this. She couldn't shake the feeling that this mysterious chat group marked a crucial turning point in her life.

Natsuo: [I think I know the reason.]

Of course, he knew why it was called the Dead Girls Chat Group. It was because all three of the women were girls who had died in their respective stories.

What puzzled him instead was why he had been invited.

Could it be that he, too, was living in some fictional world? But even if that were true, it still didn't explain his presence here.

Unless...

Unless he was destined to be turned into a woman by some utterly nonsensical plot before dying later.

"Shit! I hate my imagination!" Natsuo slapped himself across the face.

Chelsea: [You know?!]

Hilda: [Really?!]

Kana: [Speak!!]

Natsuo: [Chelsea, you're a member of the Revolutionary Army, and you've been using the Teigu, Gaea Foundation, to assassinate people, right?]

Kana: [What are you talking about? Weird guy! Are you a chuunibyou?]

Natsuo didn't bother replying to Kana. Instead, he waited for Chelsea's response, but no reply came for a long while.

Chelsea: [Haha, I don't know what you're talking about.]

Somehow, he had expected exactly that answer.

Glancing at his laptop screen, where an image of Chelsea with a lollipop in her mouth was displayed, he began typing.

Natsuo: [You don't have to deny it. I don't just know that you're with the Revolutionary Army, I also know your future. Did your partners die? Are you about to join Night Raid?]

...

"Knowing my future? Night Raid?"

The lollipop slipped from Chelsea's mouth and fell to the floor. She shot to her feet, holding the phone tightly with both hands, her eyes wide with shock.

Her face was filled with suspicion and doubt. Instinctively, she swept her gaze around the room. As she reread Natsuo's messages, an uneasy feeling crept into her heart. For the first time, the supposedly secure hideout no longer felt safe.

Was this device part of the Empire's scheme to expose her?

No, that couldn't be it.

If they already knew her identity and whereabouts, why would they go through all this trouble? They could have simply captured her... or killed her outright.

'He knows too much.' Chelsea sat down. A couple of weeks ago, the teammates she used to work with had died. She was now operating alone.

'This device is weird... That Natsuo guy is strange as well.'

Her finger moved, then stopped. She hesitated for a while, wanting to reply yet afraid she might end up getting herself fucked. Once again, she stood up and searched the room, looking for anything suspicious.

In the end, she found nothing.

The only suspicious thing in the room was the device she was holding.

Chelsea: [Speak.]

That was all she wrote. This way, it wouldn't sound like she was explicitly admitting or agreeing with what he had said.

...

Natsuo: [Take a look at these.]

[Natsuo uploaded the manga Akame ga Kill!]

[Natsuo uploaded the anime Akame ga Kill!]

He knew that no amount of talking would be enough to convince her, so instead, he uploaded both the manga and the anime to the chat group.

Kana: [Akame ga Kill? Stupid edgy anime. Only pathetic nerds watch that garbage! Nerd!]

Natsuo: [So you recognize it. Doesn't that make you an otaku nerd as well?]

Kana: [That's different. Otaku girls are attractive, unlike otaku boys, who are fat, smelly, and disgusting. Even if they're not fat, they're skinny and reek of instant noodles!]

'That's harsh. If any otaku heard her, they'd probably end up crying.' Natsuo's face twitched. This girl's tongue was poisonous.

Hilda: [What are you two talking about?]

...

Chelsea opened the folder containing the Akame ga Kill! manga and hurriedly began scrolling through it.

It was a comic with a style of artwork she had never seen before. At first, she carefully read the opening panels, but the more she read, the stranger she felt. She soon began skimming through the pages, her fingers rapidly swiping across the screen.

Then, all of a sudden, her finger stopped.

Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at one of the panels.

Because she had just seen a girl who looked exactly like her.

'It can't be... Right?! It's impossible! Something like this can't actually happen!'

For some reason, Chelsea felt her limbs turn cold. Even with all her mental fortitude, she was still human. She might be an assassin, but she valued her life very much.

...

Natsuo: [What I'm trying to say is that each of us lives in an entirely different world. We're not even in the same universe. In my world, all three of your worlds have been turned into stories. What I just sent is the story of Chelsea's world.]

Chelsea: [Is this... Is this true? Am I really going to be beheaded, with my head mounted on a pole?]