08: First Day In A Different World

"Please make yourselves comfortable."

Kana came into the room carrying a tray of drinks and placed it on the table. As she spoke, she glanced at the three people in her bedroom.

Hilda was sitting on the floor near the table, Chelsea was leaning against the bed, and Natsuo was lying on the bed with his head propped up on his hand.

Kana's expression darkened, and she shouted, "I told you to make yourselves comfortable, but not this comfortable! And you, get away from my bed!"

Why were these people so rude?!

"Why do I have the feeling you are targeting me alone?" Natsuo sat on the edge of the bed, picked his ear, and blew at his finger.

"Indeed, you shouldn't hold a grudge against your friends. That's not healthy," Hilda said as she stood up and sat next to him on the bed. She felt too uncomfortable sitting cross legged. Her legs were already numb.

"I am not targeting him! You all are just rude!" Kana held her forehead in frustration.

"Tsk! Stingy!"

"Annoying!"

"You'll never get a boyfriend with that attitude!"

Each of their comments pierced straight through her. Kana's expression darkened before she finally shouted, "I don't need a boyfriend!"

"She needs to learn anger management." Chelsea picked up a cup of juice from the table and said calmly.

"Skill issue." Natsuo shrugged and grabbed juice for himself and Hilda.

"Anyway, let's stop teasing her, or she'll kick us out of her place."

"Let me introduce myself first."

He stood up and said, "I am Natsuo Fujii. It's a pleasure to meet you all, beautiful ladies."

He noticed Kana's smug smile starting to appear and immediately corrected himself, "I mean, two beautiful ladies."

"Chelsea, let's get along." Chelsea stood up and lightly clinked her glass against his, giving him a wink.

"I know my name is a bit long for you all, so you can just call me Hilda." Hilda also stood up, lightly clinked her glass against theirs, and said with a gentle smile, "Let's do our best to finish this quest."

Natsuo and the others were actually a little surprised by Hilda's mild personality.

In the anime, she was initially portrayed as a temperamental woman who was always frowning. She only started becoming more open and easygoing after Rudeus's birthday.

"Nice to meet you, everyone. Welcome to my world." Kana was too lazy to respond to Natsuo's provocation and joined the toast as well. "I'll be counting on you all to finish this quest safely."

"I don't want to die after all."

After finishing the introduction ritual, everyone sat down. They stopped teasing each other and began seriously discussing their plan to complete the quest.

Chelsea and Hilda came from worlds that were far less advanced, so they weren't familiar with modern technology or many aspects of the modern world. Because of that, they mostly listened to Natsuo and Kana as they explained the situation and discussed their strategy.

"First, we need to know the timeline. Did you meet Shinichi Izumi?" Natsuo looked at Kana and asked.

Natsuo felt that the quest was somewhat dangerous, but at the same time, it wasn't impossible.

If it had only been him and Kana, he probably would have given up or tried to bring the main character onto their side to deal with the parasites. However, fortunately, he had two helpers.

Hilda knew magic, while Chelsea was even more powerful than her.

Among the group, Chelsea was the strongest and most versatile. Natsuo had a feeling that she would be the one carrying them through this quest.

"Not yet. I went to his school earlier this morning and saw him walking out through the school gate. I could sense his presence among the crowd. It seems the parasite has already taken over his hand."

Kana explained what she had done that morning.

Even though she had spent the entire morning making fun of Natsuo, that wasn't the only thing she did. She was curious about the man she had fallen in love with in the manga for some stupid reason. Unable to hold back her curiosity, she went to his school and watched him from afar.

When she felt that sensation, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Thinking about it now, she couldn't believe that because of some ridiculous delusion, she had actually convinced herself that she was in love with him.

"There hasn't been any news about West High on TV."

From what Kana said, it seemed that nothing major had happened yet. Perhaps the plot had only just begun.

The four of them discussed their situation for a while before deciding on their next step. First, they would explore the city, get their paperwork sorted out, and find a place to stay.

They couldn't remain at Kana's place. Not only were her parents there, but there also wasn't enough space for four more people to live comfortably.

They decided to split into two groups.

Hilda and Kana would go together, using Kana's ability to sense parasites and search for any of them nearby to mark them for later.

Meanwhile, Natsuo and Chelsea would focus on the more practical matters. They would find a way to obtain fake IDs, sell the gold Hilda brought, and look for a place for them to stay.

"Before you go out, I think the two of you should change into something else."

Natsuo stood up and walked toward the door after speaking.

Hilda was still wearing an aristocratic dress, which would immediately attract attention in the modern world. Meanwhile, Chelsea was dressed in tight black leather clothes that clung closely to her body. She looked less like an ordinary person and more like a superhero wearing spandex or an assassin.

"I'll give you something to wear." After leaving the room, Natsuo leaned against the wall and could hear the voices of the three girls from inside.

"So this is how you wear it? It's so tight, my chest feels so stuffy!"

Hilda's voice sounded as if she was struggling with the clothes.

"Hahaha, Kana, your clothes are too tight!"

Chelsea's laughter came from inside the room.

"Sorry for being small-chested! Not everyone is born with huge milkers like you two!"

Kana shouted before opening the door and storming out. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she was met with Natsuo's annoying smirk.

She glared at him.

"What are you looking at?!"

...

"Whoa! So big!"

The sun was setting, and the lights of Tokyo were gradually illuminating the city.

Walking beside Natsuo, Chelsea looked around with amazement and exclaimed loudly.

She stared at the towering buildings surrounding her, the wide, clean streets, the dazzling lights, and the endless crowds of people flowing like a sea.

The Empire's capital was large and prosperous if one ignored its rotten corruption, but compared to Tokyo, it simply couldn't compare.

'That's what she said.' Natsuo glanced at his little buddy before looking back at Chelsea.

She had changed into modern clothes. Now she looked more like a mature office lady. She was wearing a white turtleneck sweater, a black pencil skirt, black stockings, and a pair of high heels.

"She is so beautiful. Look at her figure. Is she a model?"

"Her hair is so pretty. I wonder what kind of hair dye she's using? It looks so real!"

With her unusual hair color and beauty, Chelsea easily attracted the attention of the people around them. Many couldn't help but stare at the two of them.

'This shit is heavy.' Natsuo adjusted the school bag on his shoulder. It was filled with the gold and jewels Hilda had brought with her.

She had left them with Natsuo and Chelsea to sell before leaving with Kana.

"Wait here."

Suddenly, Chelsea stopped talking. Her eyes darted around before she flashed Natsuo a smile. The next moment, her figure disappeared into the crowd. Before he could even call out to her, she was already gone.

"What is she up to?" Natsuo looked around, but he couldn't even catch a glimpse of her silhouette. He scratched his head and muttered.

He glanced around before walking over to a nearby wall and leaning against it, waiting for her.

Even though he had no idea why she had suddenly left, he wasn't worried about her. Chelsea was a professional assassin. She was the last person he needed to worry about.

Natsuo felt that he should be worrying about himself instead.

Standing there alone and watching people pass by, he studied each person's face, wondering if any of them was a parasite.

What if a parasite suddenly went on a rampage and started killing people? Wouldn't he end up getting killed too?

The more conscious he became of the parasites, the more aware he was of his own weakness. He held his face and hurriedly shook his head, trying to drive away those negative thoughts.

'Will she teach me magic if I ask her?' The thought of Hilda suddenly crossed his mind.

She might only know Elementary Magic, but that would be more than enough for him to defend himself if he ever ran into a parasite on his own. Then another important thought crossed his mind.

'Will I even be able to learn magic? And does mana even exist in this world?'

This was actually an important issue that none of them had considered earlier. If mana didn't exist in this world, wouldn't Hilda become just as useless as the two of them? At that point, the entire burden would fall on Chelsea alone.

"Hey there, handsome! You look like you're in trouble. Want onee-chan to cheer you up?" Just then, a sweet voice pulled Natsuo back to his senses. When he turned toward the person flirting with him, he saw a beautiful black-haired woman dressed in a fashionable black dress. She took his hand and pulled it between her breasts as she smiled seductively, "What's your name, cutie?"

"Sorry, I'm waiting for my girlfriend."

Natsuo pulled his arm free from her grasp and replied with a straight face. There was no way he was going anywhere with some random woman. Who knew if she was a parasite? He took two steps back, putting some distance between them while subtly glancing around, trying to stay as far away from her as possible.

"Pfft! Hahahaha! Since when did I become your girlfriend, Natsuo-kun?"

Just as he was starting to tense up, the black-haired beauty suddenly burst into laughter. She slapped her thigh and laughed so hard that she had to clutch her stomach.

"Your face is priceless! Hahahahaha!" She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes before placing a hand on his shoulder for support, only to burst into laughter again.

"Phew! I laughed so hard my stomach hurts!" Chelsea let out a long, satisfied sigh and spoke to him in her usual voice. "You know, I wouldn't mind having a cute boy like you as my boyfriend."

Gazing at Natsuo's increasingly dark expression, she winked at him and grinned. "Aren't I amazing? I look completely different, right?"

...

Which dead female characters would you like to see join the chat group, and which anime, manga, or other worlds would you like to see me explore next?

Feel free to suggest as many as you want. I might just pick some of your suggestions.

And don't forget the stones! Give me your stones!