07: First Quest

"I was trying to comfort you, and you ruined my shirt! How am I supposed to attend the next classes like this?"

Natsuo sat down on the floor, leaning against the fence as he held up his soaked shirt and complained. It was drenched with tears and snot. He had wanted to comfort her, but he hadn't expected her to cry so much. Did she get dumped by her boyfriend or something?

"I don't usually cry this much. It's your fault. Who told you to hug me like that?" Hina fidgeted with her fingers, her eyes darting around. She glanced at his soaked shirt, and her face turned red with embarrassment. "How about I cover for you this time? You can leave school early."

"Really?!" Natsuo turned toward her and asked excitedly.

"Yes, but only this time!" Hina looked away as she spoke in a firm tone, trying to appear serious.

"Hina-chan! You're the best!" Natsuo grabbed her hands. He was so moved that he nearly shed tears.

Hina felt a ticklish sensation when she heard him call her "Hina-chan." For some reason, it felt really good hearing Natsuo call her that. She gently ran both hands through his messy hair. "Sigh, look at your hair. Don't tell me you were late to school this morning. I was worried when I left."

"I asked Rui to wake you up, but she barely said two words before giving up."

"Damn her! I knew it!" Natsuo gritted his teeth. It really was all because of her!

He watched Hina trying to smooth down his stubborn hair before asking, "Anyways, do you feel better now?"

"Hmm, a lot better," Hina said as she finally gave up on his hair. She leaned back against the fence and spoke softly, "Thank you, Natsuo."

She was thankful both for his help and for the fact that he hadn't asked anything more.

"We're family now, so you don't have to be so formal," Natsuo said lightly as he looked up at the sky.

Although Natsuo had never been in a relationship before, he wasn't dense. It was obvious that Hina was in a complicated relationship with another man. Trying to force an answer out of her would only make her uncomfortable, and she wouldn't tell him anything anyway.

He would just read the manga later to find out the answer.

If he couldn't find the answer in the manga, he would hire a private investigator. He could consider himself fairly well off, so he could afford it.

"Time sure flies. It's almost been a year already." Hina leaned her head against his shoulder. Being by his side like this gave her a strange sense of calm and peace. "Back when I first started teaching, I couldn't even manage a classroom. I was so depressed that I always came up here to hide."

"You remember when I ran into you and ended up spilling my guts to you? You even had to encourage me. Thinking back on it now, I was so childish."

"But it really cheered me up."

"Natsuo, you've always been dependable, unlike me..." Hina tilted her head, glanced at his side profile, and whispered, "Thank you... for always being there for me."

"I'll always be by your side. Next time, don't cry alone. Call me. I'll always have a shoulder for you to lean on," Natsuo chuckled as he patted her head.

"Only one shoulder?" Hina laughed.

"Sorry, but I have to keep the other one for my future girlfriend," Natsuo replied with a shrug, spreading his hands.

"Pfft! Future girlfriend?! Hahaha!" Hina lightly punched his chest a couple of times, laughing so hard that tears welled up in her eyes. After wiping them away, she said, "Natsuo, you really are a good person."

"Did you just give me the good guy card?!" Natsuo shouted.

"What do you mean?"

...

"Fortunately, she left." When the break ended, Natsuo didn't return to class. Hina was going to cover for him, so he could finally use his phone in peace.

The moment he opened the first episode, he was greeted by the sight of his own naked butt lying on the bed with Rui sitting on the edge beside him. It was the same scene from when he had sex with Rui!

"They all saw this?!" Natsuo covered his face and whispered. It was so embarrassing!

Time passed surprisingly quickly while he watched the anime. By the time he finally finished it, school was already about to end.

'Well, it wasn't as outrageous as I thought.'

Honestly, after that first scene in the first episode, Natsuo had been convinced he was stuck in some borderline hentai anime. But once he kept watching, it turned out to be pretty normal overall, if you ignored the handful of ecchi moments. Compared to a lot of the stuff he had watched in his previous life, these scenes were actually kind of tame.

Though he still had to read the manga as well before he could judge. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to simply scroll through the panels and finish the entire manga in a couple of minutes.

Who knew? Perhaps there was some kind of skill like that available in the chat group?

"So Hina is having an affair. No wonder she's been like this lately." Natsuo felt conflicted about the whole thing. On one hand, he really wanted to step in and end her relationship with that guy. On the other hand, he was worried about how she would react if she found out he had interfered.

It would be easy for him to break their relationship. The simplest way would be to tell the man's wife that her husband was cheating, but that would severely affect Hina. It could cause real trouble for her at work, with her friends, and with the people around her. In the end, it would probably do more harm than good.

"I'll think about it later. If things go the same way as I saw, she will break up with him on her own. Maybe I'll ask Rui for help." Natsuo decided not to think too much about it for now and let things progress naturally.

[Ding!]

[New Quest Available!]

[Quest: Clean Up the Parasites.]

[Task: Kill 100 Parasites, Prevent the Massacre at West High School, Kill Gotou.]

[Participants: 4 Members.]

[Rewards: 5000 Shop Points, 1 Lottery Ticket.]

[System Note: 30 minutes before the quest begins.]

[System Note 2: Time will stop in the participants' worlds.]

"A quest?! It's really a quest?!" Natsuo shot up to his feet. He stared at the quest notification while gripping his phone tightly.

"Parasites... It's Kana's world?"

Kana: [A quest?!]

Hilda: [Does this mean we are going to another world?]

Chelsea: [It seems to be Kana's world.]

The quest notification attracted the attention of the three women as well. They all began discussing it.

Natsuo: [Indeed, it's her world.]

Speaking of which, Kana had been completely unconcerned about her own future. Unlike Hilda and Chelsea, she hadn't expressed any worry at all. Instead, she seemed more interested in his relationship with his two stepsisters than what was happening in her own world.

Natsuo wondered if she already knew about this quest.

Kana: [You are all coming to my world?! We will be meeting each other!]

Natsuo: [Yes, we only have 30 minutes to prepare. @Hilda, @Chelsea, I don't have any fighting skills. Do either of you know any?]

He had only gotten into this chat group less than 24 hours ago. Obviously, he had no fighting ability to speak of. He was just a normal human being who trained three times a week.

Hilda: [I know fire and earth elementary magic.]

Chelsea: [You already know about my shapeshifting ability. I can also fight a little, though I don't know if I can go toe-to-toe with a parasite head-on. However, I'm confident in my ability to assassinate them.]

Kana: [Why didn't you ask me?]

Natsuo: [Because you're useless, like me.]

Hilda: [Useless.]

Chelsea: [A useless couple.]

Natsuo: [We are not a couple!]

Kana: [We are not a couple!]

Chelsea: [Fufu... I see~!]

"30 minutes? What can I do? The quest came so suddenly. Do I have time to run and withdraw money? Will it even be useful in another world? Should I buy gold? I don't have time!"

Natsuo felt that he was too useless right now. Buying guns was very hard and time-consuming. This wasn't the USA where he could just get a gun from Walmart.

Natsuo: [Hilda, can you bring some gold with you? It will be useful.]

Since he didn't have enough time to buy gold himself, he could only ask the richest person in the chat group to do it.

Hilda might only be the wife of Philip, who had lost to his brother in the competition for the successor position, but she was still far wealthier than Natsuo.

Chelsea, on the other hand, was just an assassin working for the Revolutionary Army. She didn't seem to have much money, and even if she did, she would probably have it hidden somewhere far away.

Hilda: [Alright.]

Natsuo: [Thank you.]

Hilda: [Don't mention it. We all have to work together to finish the quest.]

Chelsea: [Hilda, you really are a nice person.]

Kana: [You are a nice person.]

Natsuo: [Hilda, you are such a good person!]

Hilda: [Don't give me the good person card!!!]

"Hahaha!" Natsuo laughed aloud. He suddenly felt his nervousness fading as he chatted with them.

Time passed quickly. The 30 minutes were over before he knew it. When there were only 10 seconds remaining, a countdown appeared on his phone.

[8]

[7]

[6]

[2]

[1]

[0]

When the countdown reached zero, a white light enveloped Natsuo's body.

In the next instant, he disappeared and was teleported to another world.

At the same time, the flow of time in his own world came to a complete stop.

...

"Why is 69 afraid of 70?"

"Because they once had a fight and 71."

"Who is 78?"

"78 my ass."

The first thing Natsuo heard when he opened his eyes was a man telling these jokes. He looked around and immediately spotted a black haired woman staring at him with wide eyes while holding her phone.

"Seriously, what are you watching?" Natsuo gave her a blank look as he spoke. He glanced around and realized he was standing inside a girl's bedroom.

He glanced to both sides and saw two women standing next to him. They were also looking around, trying to understand their surroundings.

The first was a busty red haired woman dressed in an aristocratic dress. She was Hilda.

The other was Chelsea, dressed in tight black clothing with a lollipop in her mouth. She pulled the lollipop out, licked her lips, then looked at him and patted his head.

"You are Natsuo? What happened to your hair?"