Chapter Text
It's the last day of exams.
After many days of studying and one nasty math exam, I can finally return to my usual light novel reading pace.
The afternoon feels more colorful, my feet move a bit more quickly, and my mind is 2 kilograms lighter somehow. All because of freedom.
Of course, that's not the only thing I'm excited about. Before heading home I went and congratulated myself for surviving the exams with the latest volume of <Me And My Little Sister Reincarnated In Another World, But She Is Now a Giantess>.
Its a very serious story about two siblings having to hide their affection from the world, since humans and giants can't coexist. It's very wholesome, and the fan service is quite tasteful too so there is nothing weird about it.
While I was thinking that, I suddenly heard a loud truck horn to my left, which immediately made me turn my head and…
Time seemed to slow down.
Next to me was a small truck, moving slowly in my direction.
For some reason, I had a deep instinct that this was it, that I was going to die.
My life flashed before my eyes, but there wasn't really much I remembered that didn't include Kaju. Her first words, her first steps, the time we spent playing, and also how hard it was when we had to go to different schools for the first time.
Although, this past year has been way more lively thanks to the tragic love lives of a few girls.
Even if I liked my older lifestyle, its not so bad having a few friends.
I don't have too many regrets either. I said some bad stuff to Yanami and Komari a while back, but other than that I think I did well enough.
I will also die with the title of 'enemy of women', apparently.
Too bad I will never be able to give a proper answer to Tiara…
WAIT A MINUTE!
Just because I've read multiple times of a protagonist dying to a truck before getting isekai'd doesn't mean I can just accept that I will die, much less that I can go to another world!
This is a small street, there is no way the speed limit is that high, and the driver must have at least tried to brake since they honked at me.
I won't let 16 years of experience learning to walk around the streets go to waste because of a single dumb mistake.
Maybe if I use this convenient heightened perception to brace myself instead of getting all sentim—
My vision whites out.
*
When I realize it, I'm standing in some kind of glowing white room.
Yeah, I absolutely died, there is no reason to ask 'Where am I?' I'm not that dumb.
Suddenly, something akin to a floating, holographic screen appeared midair.
[WELCOME TO MELMAM, ADVENTURER]
What a dumb name for— wait!
[YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED TO THIS WORLD, CONGRATULATIONS]
There is no way. This can't be real, right? This must be some last delirium my brain is making up. Yes, surely.
I pinch myself. It actually hurt. I pinch myself harder.
"Ouch."
Okay that was stupid.
This is actually…
"Real."
Even after hearing myself say it though, it would still take my mind some time to process it.
I press the 'PROCEED' button on the screen out of habit.
[RANDOMLY ASSIGNED RACE: HUMAN, 50% RARITY]
[RANDOMLY ASSIGNED ELEMENT: WATER, 25% RARITY]
Oh, so there is some kind of gacha mechanic. Even my brain wouldn't come up with stupid stuff like this.
There is even a list of possible pulls. Of course I got the two most common options. Dammit, I could've been a cool angel with dark magic.
[SELECT YOUR CLASS:]
Okay, this is where my knowledge comes into play.
In front of me there is a floating choice selection menu, also slightly transparent and sensitive to touch.
They have a varied selection of classic RPG classes here, and a few quirky ones like chaos jester.
There are also detailed explanations for each class I don't really need to read since I know what I'm doing.
There were things like warrior, dark mage, knight, all things that would be better suited for a protagonist to go with.
Maybe I should pick a cleric, or some other less flashy class. Since I was summoned here as an adventurer, I probably can't just be a background character, instead I will have to level up to side-character this time.
But now that I think about it, I actually did get isekai'd like a protagonist would…
So does that mean I am the protagonist?
"…"
Whatever, I think I will pick something that could fit either way.
Being a chronomancer seems cool, time manipulation is usually a main character ability, but if it's in a small scale it can be used by a side-character as a interesting ability you are supposed to conveniently forget when it could make things too easy.
I also just kind of want it.
I click the 'CHRONOMANCER' and the 'ACCEPT' options.
[SELECT YOUR JOB:]
Job? That's uncommon.
The options seen to be basic professions, and there seems to be one for every job I know, it's a really big list.
This time I skip the detailed descriptions because I already know all of these.
I have to be smart here, if it were Yanami she would probably pick chef without a second thought, but I have to think about doing well in this world.
Usually the most annoying part for every isekai MC I've seen is the beginning before any party members or guilds, they have to survive and learn about a different world and they usually suffer comically from it.
Thankfully I'm well prepared, so I will not go through the same difficulties as them.
I think I will choose a job geared survival. It would definitely be useful if I decide to be a lone wolf, or if the protagonist kicks me out of his party and I have to begin my revenge plot.
'GATHERER', huh. As in gathering resources? Even a lion can't survive if it doesn't find food, so I think I will definitely go with this one.
I click the 'GATHERER' and the 'FINISH' options.
[GOOD CHOICES, ADVENTURER]
[NOW GO! THE WORLD OF MELGAM AWAITS]
Finally. The white glow of the walls was starting to give me a headache.
As the floating text disappears, the whole room goes with it.
I see an expansive blue sky with a few clouds above me. It would have been a bigger contrast with the afternoon sky I was looking at before if not for the constant glowing white of the room numbing me to light.
Suddenly, I feel weightless.
I look down and the ground I assumed was just below me was actually hundreds of meters below.
What kind of isekai teleports you this high?! It's either high in the clouds for a cool scene with some exposition, or ON THE DAMN GROUND!
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
The wind rushes past me as I pick up speed, there has to be a catch, I have to stop safely somewhere. But below me there is just a grassy field.
The ground comes closer and closer. I shut my eyes and brace my whole body for impact, not even considering how dumb it was that I was falling while facing down.
THUMP
"…"
I tried to move.
"Ow- actually nothing hurts."
Despite the loud noise and obvious speed, there was no actual pain or force when I made contact.
Now I just find myself laying down on the grass while wondering why I had to go through 2 near death experiences in less than 10 minutes, my heart might not survive this.
Actually, one of them was an actual death, so my heart already didn't survive.
Getting up and looking around gives me my first proper view of this new world.
I seen to have fallen in a basic plains biome, with some groves forming here and there.
On the ground I can see some dirt paths people seen to travel on. The one closest to me goes into a grove in one direction and dissapears into a slight, distant hill in the other.
Freely roaming the the scenery are jumping blue blobs of transparent liquid that don't seen to follow any strict direction, a very basic slime monster.
Now for me…
Looking down, my clothes have been changed! How did I not notice this?
There are two prominent colors, brown with golden highlights.
I have leather gloves and boot, with some slightly baggy pants that are held by a leather belt.
On my torso there is a button-up jacket that is a bit thick, with short sleeves that close to my arm at the end.
To finish this weird look, there is a pair of those crazy doctor style safety googles on my head, a separate, deep circle for each eye, for some reason.
I can't deny this is kind of cool, but it's completely aesthetic and nothing seems to have been chosen for practical use. I'm not sure how long I will last before getting sick of it.
I was expecting a cool and simple mage cloak and maybe a staff, not this complicated steampunk wanna be look.
Feeling around my clothes, I feel a solid object in my jacket pocket, it's an old pocket watch, a small chain hanging from the top.
Is this my gear?!
There is nothing else in the other pockets and no inventory to open, this is it, this is all I have with me.
For some reason, I'm disappointed.
My whole body feels a bit heavier as I look down at the watch.
It has a few buttons, and the clock hands are not protected so I can touch them, but they don't move and seen stuck on the XII.
I press the top button.
Suddenly, the whole world goes gray and the clock hands start moving.
The sounds I had previously just ignored, like from the birds and the wind, stop and the silence makes me aware of their absence.
In the distance, a slime is floating midair.
I press the button quickly after and the world goes back to normal as if nothing happened and the clock hands start moving back to XII.
So I have a time stop ability, huh?
That seems too OP for my first power, this place has horrible balancing.
The other buttons do nothing, so maybe I unlock them or something.
Well, I won't unlock anything if I don't move around.
I will follow the closest path into a grove and kill some slime monsters on the way.
This is my first day in another world, I have to be strong to protect myself until I make it to a city.
With my OP power and isekai knowledge, I doubt I will encounter many problems.
Today, Nukumizu Kazuhiko will begin his quest to… for… in search of…
I actually have no idea why I was summoned, there was no beautiful heroin to give me exposition.
I guess I'm just going to a city to search for an isekai meaning for now.
A slime is jumping it's way into my direction, when it gets close, a health bar appears atop it's body.
"No time to waste now."
I prepare my watch.
*
It's been 3 hours. The 3 longest hours of my life.
I learned many things during that time.
Turns out I have a time limit of 5 seconds when stopping time, which then has a max cooldown of 10 seconds to be used again.
I discovered that as soon as the slime I was peacefully attacking started moving again, humping on top of my head.
And it's not like anime 5 seconds either, where I can do and say a bunch of things and still make a cool pose at the end, it's 5 real seconds.
I also learned that, since I have no actual weapon, the most I can do is kick and punch the time frozen slimes, which does so little damage there is barely a difference in their health bar.
I spent most of the time kicking time stopped slimes, then running away during the cooldown, rinse and repeat.
Those things can actually sting quite a bit if they decide to ram into you.
I'm thankful I had training before racing Yakishio, I'm already exhausted so old me would've collapsed an hour ago.
Lastly, I learned that if I focus on something I want to find it starts to glow and I can see it easily.
That's probably related to my gatherer job, probably.
This world is so frustrating!
I get here falling from the sky, no one to guide me, no explanation of anything, and IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!
I'm not even sure if it was worth it to kill those 6 devilish slimes since they didn't drop anything and I haven't seen any EXP meter.
I followed the path into a grove as the sun started to set.
With my gathering abilities, or whatever it's called, I got some fruits, branches, and rocks to spend the night around a campfire.
I managed to make a fire using these weird googles, which apparently are not so useless since the lenses give me a small binocular zoom when put on.
A heavy sigh escapes my lips as I lay down on the comfortable grass by the campfire, still quite uncomfortable, but way better than staying up with my sore legs.
As I close my eyes and try to rest, the reality of this whole thing tries to set in.
I'm in a new world, alone, away from everything I've ever know.
This is the first time I've slept alone too, normally someone would be at least in the same house as me.
I never really minded being alone, I actually prefer it most of the time.
But when I think that I will never see them again…
Exhaustion takes a hold of my mind before those thoughts take shape.
"I wish… I could at least see them… one more time…"
Those are my last words before I fall asleep.
"AHHHHHHHHH—"
"…huh…"
"AHHHHHHHH—"
My alarm is weird today, did Kaju change it again?
"AHHHHHHHH—"
I try to reach for it but the sound is coming from the wrong direction, and my bed is also different somehow.
"AHHHHHHHH"
THUMP
Suddenly, there's a loud noise alongside something heavy and soft appearing on top of me.
The surprise fully wakes me up and the events from yesterday come rushing back in.
Oh yeah, that's right, I died.
I look down at the heavy thing on top of me, it's trying to move, ew.
As my senses come back I notice the thing is actually a person, a girl that slightly shorter than me.
Is this my first party member? Did I do so bad yesterday the gods blessed me with divine help? Is this blue haired heroin the one who will finally guide me on this confusing world?
Wait, blue hair? Oh no…
"…Ow my— Huh, it didn't hurt."
A smile dared to creep up my lips, probably from watching someone suffer the same way I did, until I realized she was still on top of me.
"Yanami-san, would you please get off me."
"Nukumizu-kun!"
She is way more embarrassed than I thought. I'm just glad I got all this weight off of me.
I stretch and properly wake up, sitting on the grass while facing Yanami.
"I thought this was my own dream, what are you doing here, Nukumizu-kun?"
Do you not even consider the chance you can dream about me?
I pinch her cheek, it's softer than expected.
"Ouch."
"See? It's real. Didn't you die too? or at least heard that I died?"
Her face went pale and she looked like she was at a loss for words.
Oh right, getting isekai'd is probably harder to stomach if you're not used to reading about it.
"Do you at least remember what you were doing before coming here?"
"O-of course. I was just eating my second serving of pre-dinner to de-stress from the math exam earlier today before everything got slow. I was suddenly here so I figured I just feel asleep while eating again."
So it's a regular occurrence. Yeah, this girl isn't normal.
But more importantly, did she say she was eating dinner after the math exam? Did no time pass since I got here?
She also had the time slow thing as well, but I just know she isn't choking with how much food she always stuffs in her mouth daily.
"Maybe we didn't die, actually."
My mumbling came out louder than I thought.
I expected her to be relieved for not dying, but she pouted and punched my shoulder instead. Ouch.
"You could be a bit more tactful sometimes, you know?."
She is back to normal, thankfully.
"But where exactly are we?"
Good question, I barely have more information than you.
"We got transported to another world, just like an isekai light novel. I thought I died before I came here yesterday, but you may be proof that I was wrong and we can actually go back."
"Great, so let's do it, take us back home so I can finish my pre-dinner meal. Actually this place is quite nice, maybe we can look around for a bit."
This isn't a school trip, take this more seriously.
"If I could I would have done that yesterday already, but we are stuck until we find something. At least now I think there may be a chance to come back."
Her mood visibly drops as she tries to process the information.
"B-b-but… my dinner… my phone… my bed…"
I would've expected anger and frustration instead of depression.
This is bad, her mood is low and I don't have any sweets on me.
I pick a fruit I collected earlier and hand it to her. I might need a few dozen more.
Maybe if I explain more of what I know she will calm down…
*
"So you were stuck here alone, thinking you died and that we would never see each other again?! It must have been lonely… Did you miss me?"
No.
I pondered if I should say that, her face feels a bit more comforting compared to her normal teasing…
"No, not at all."
Done, now that will get the message across better. Why do you look disappointed?
"More importantly, you need to tell me what you got as an element and race, and which class and job you picked. We have to survive for now, and trust me, this world is not easy."
Looking at Yanami and knowing her, I can guess her class and job pretty easily.
She is wearing white, baggy pants that tighten at the ankles, Blue sandals and a blue cloth hanging loose around her waist.
On her torso is a loose top made from a thin and light blue cloth and exposes her belly, and her wrists are decorated with different bracelets.
She is the classic image of a RPG dancer class. Even if the exposed skin might not be so practical, she fits way better in this setting than whatever I'm wearing.
The only weird thing are the two balls hanging like key chains from her bracelets.
"Well, that floating text told me I was an elf and had light magic. Both the chances were very low so clearly my luck beat yours, Nukumizu-kun."
I didn't need a gacha pull to know that.
Of course Yanami gets the rarest race and the second rarest element while I get the most common options.
If this is the power of 4K, I'm scared to think what 8K would do to this world.
But what matters is how you use it and I can definitely use my pulls better than her, so her smug grin is not irritating me whatsoever.
My eyes land on her ears, they are both longer and pointy now.
"Did you notice your ears thought?"
"Yeah, I took my time sulking over them in that white room. Even in a dream I wouldn't wish to have these big and weird things. Thankfully I can hide them well enough with my hair."
Please apologize to every elf girl to ever exist.
She is groping her ears with a gentle smiling that does not reach her eyes. The lack of food in the white room definitely stunted her coping.
"I can also see you are a dancer, do you have any useful powers?"
"Of course I'm a dancer. The description said it's a person with charisma and energy that makes other people stronger by encouraging them. I thought that, since I did so well as a cheer leader in the sports festival, this will work just fine. I also have these:"
Yanami grabs the balls hanging from her bracelets, they suddenly puff out as blue pom-pons.
"See see, pretty neat, huh?"
My immersion is ruined. No matter what poses she makes this cheer leading dancer combo is so out of place it hurts.
"And your job? What did you pick?"
Asking seems pointless, but when it feels like nothing goes right in your isekai life, you should at least have hope that your friends have actual useful picks.
"I picked a chef. I didn't read the description, but I think I can cook way better now."
"…"
"Nukumizu-kun?"
This is it. If we didn't die in our other world, we are totally dying here.
I think I will just skip the five stages of grief and just accept it.
"Maybe we can try out my cooking skills. I saw you made a campfire so I think we can catch us some meat. These fruits are not bad but I'm hungry again and—"
My brain automatically tunes out Yanami's blabbing and I nod without thinking.
If there was ever a worst start to an isekai story, I haven't read about it.