Chapter Text
"With this, I summon my loyal dragon, Valhalla!"
The shout tore out of me, arms flung wide, voice echoing off the alley walls.
Chirrr. Chirrr. Chirrr.
Yagami sighed, the sound bleeding into the cricket noise as he turned and walked. Tanka had already melted away somewhere. Just gone.
"Hey, wait up! I haven't even shown you my special move yet!"
"Quit wasting time, Aoi." He didn't even bother glancing back. "We're in high school now. That eighth-grade syndrome crap? We're too old for it. Grow up."
Hands buried in his pockets, he kept walking until the corner swallowed him whole.
For a moment, I just stood there in the alley, letting out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Faded posters plastered the concrete walls on either side, bands I'd never listened to, phone numbers I'd never call. The silence after my shout felt stupid.
Chirr. Chirrr. Chirrr.
The crickets kept at it, loud and pointless.
My fingers found the eyepatch over my left eye. Bought it years ago at some mall kiosk. The leather had cracked, the elastic strap gone limp and useless. It used to feel cool. Powerful. Now it just sat there like a piece of trash stuck to my face.
Guess I'll boot up Indefinite Strike later. Afternoon session, maybe night too. The thought landed flat, no excitement, no anticipation. Just another thing to do. Studying felt pointless; I'd scrape by like always, enough to pass, enough to keep my parents quiet. They'd stopped asking about grades anyway. Stopped asking about a lot of things.
The alley spilled out onto the main street, and I turned left toward home. Streetlights buzzed overhead, fighting the dusk. Cars drifted past, people inside them heading somewhere, home, families, friends. I had none of that. No real friends. No girlfriend. Nowhere to be.
People called me chunni. Delusional. A class clown. Heard it in the hallways, caught the smirks when I walked by. Honestly? Even I didn't know what I was doing anymore. The eyepatch was a prop. The Valhalla shouts were lines from a play nobody watched. But if I peeled it all away, what was left? Just some guy in a school uniform, walking home alone.
At the crosswalk, the light blinked red. The road sat empty, but I waited anyway. Watched the seconds tick down on the pedestrian signal. And while I stood there, a dumb thought crept in. Stupid. Really stupid. But there it was.
If a truck hit me right now, would I get isekai'd? Truck-kun was a meme, a joke people tossed around. But what if it was real? What if one second you're here, and the next you're somewhere else, a world with actual magic, where an eyepatch meant something, where you could summon a real dragon instead of just yelling its name into nothing?
The light clicked green. I stepped off the curb.
A horn blared. Not distant. Right there. It screamed into my ears, rattled around my skull. My feet locked up, nailed to the asphalt. I turned my head.
Truck. Headlights. Grille. Bearing down. The driver leaned on the horn, a solid, unbroken wall of sound getting louder, louder.
This is it, I thought. My isekai moment.
Then something yanked my collar. The fabric bit into my throat, and my feet left the ground. For a second, I was flying backward. Then I hit the sidewalk, palms scraping concrete, skin burning.
"Hey!" A voice shouted right in my face. "Hey! You! What's wrong with you? Trying to die?"
I looked up. A police officer, face flushed, breathing hard, hands still raised like he was ready to grab me again.
"I was just—"
"Just walking into traffic!" He jabbed a finger toward the road. The truck was already gone, hadn't even stopped. "You didn't look! Not once! Light's red, so you look! Always look!"
I pushed myself up, knees shaky. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention."
"Not paying attention?" He shook his head, sucked in a breath, let it out slow. "Go home. Go home and pay attention. Please. I don't want to scrape you off the asphalt."
Nodded. Apologized again. Walked away.
Heart hammering. Hands shaking. I shoved them deep in my pockets so he wouldn't see. Kept walking. Didn't look back.
No way I'm getting isekai'd anytime soon. The thought rattled through my skull. That was so stupid. Almost died because of a stupid joke.
Kept walking. My street came into view. My house. Turned right at the corner.
Huh?
The thought never finished. Last thing I saw was a truck..
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Every part of me hurt.
No, scratch that. It felt like a truck had used me as a bumper. Skull pounding, ribs screaming, even my teeth aching in a way that didn't seem possible.
The corner. The turn. That truck filling my vision right before everything went black.
Am I dead?
Tried opening my eyes. The lids fought back, heavy as concrete, but I pushed through.
White. Endless white. Not the painful, blinding kind, just flat, boring white, like someone had rolled a single coat over the whole universe.
Okay, maybe not dead. Heaven's gotta be more interesting than this.
Trying to move my head felt like turning rusted gears, but eventually the world shifted into view. White floor, white walls, white ceiling. No doors, no windows, no furniture. Nothing but empty space and me.
And him.
A tall guy stood inches away, face hovering so close I could count the pores on his nose. White business suit, dark gray hair, expression so blank it circled back around to unsettling.
"Gah!" The shout tore out of me, echoing off the invisible walls. "Be eradicated! Begone!" My hands flew up, fingers forming a cross, stupid, I knew it was stupid, but panic doesn't exactly inspire creativity.
Nothing. Not a flinch, not a blink, not even a twitch at the corner of his mouth. Just that same dead-eyed stare.
Lowering my hands, I actually looked at him. Cops don't wear suits that nice. Expensive tailoring, the kind my parents couldn't afford.
"Akai Aoi." Flat voice, no emotion, like a text-to-speech program given human form. He glanced down at a tablet I hadn't noticed before. White, obviously. "Time of impact, 1540 hours, Nindo, Kyoto."
Wait.
"I'm dead?"
He looked up from the tablet, those empty eyes meeting mine. "No. Unfortunately."
"Unfortunately?" My voice cracked. "Why do you sound so disappointed? Also, where even am I? Who are you?"
The tablet disappeared under his arm while he straightened his tie, a motion so practiced it probably had its own muscle memory. "I am Cuthbert Bartholomew Blanda, a Truck-Kun Service Commission agent."
Is this guy for real?
"Truck-kun 007 accidentally hit you." Still that flat delivery, like he was reading a weather report. "You are now in our suspended space since the incident was an error on our end."
The words bounced around my skull, refusing to click together. "So I'm dead?" Looking down at my hands, I could see through them, just a little, like cheap glass. "Is this what being a ghost feels like? Behold, I'm transparent—"
"Please refrain from your tiresome monologues." His voice cut through mine, sharp and final.
My mouth snapped shut.
Reaching into his jacket, he produced a folder. White, naturally. Flipping it open, he scanned whatever was inside. "As an apology for the incident, we would like to send you to a world of your choice."
My jaw dropped. "Wait, seriously?"
"Indeed." The folder snapped shut, replaced by the tablet extended toward me. "Make your selection."
Taking it with shaking hands, or maybe ghost hands always trembled, who knew, I stared at the screen. World N1. World N2. World N3. Numbers stretching into infinity. Scrolling, scanning, stopping at World N11.
Dragons. Castles. Magic. Swords. Everything from those daydreams in the alley, rendered in high-def glory.
Glancing up, I caught him watching, waiting. Coolest one wins. My finger tapped N11.
A nod. The tablet returned. More tapping. "World N11. Please choose your character and powers."
The screen transformed into character creation, and I couldn't stop the grin spreading across my face. No more alleyways, no more cricket choruses, no more officers screaming about traffic safety.
Time to build perfection.
Fingers flew across options. Male. Handsome, strike that, very handsome. Biceps that strained against any shirt. Abs for days. A jawline sharp enough for surgery. Hair long and blonde and flowing like a commercial.
Background: Prince of a Kingdom. Destiny: Future Emperor. Aura: Cool, obviously. Strength: Super strong, obviously. The finished product stared back at me, and damn, even I was impressed.
The man reached for the tablet. I held up a hand. "Basic powers. Need to pick those."
Fire magic. Lightning magic. Flight. Invisibility. Immortality? No, too much. Invincibility all is perfect. And a dragon. A loyal dragon. Valhalla.
Done.
The tablet changed hands. He scanned it, nodded. "Now, time to send you to N11—" The words died mid-sentence as his eyes flicked between the screen and me.
Proceed. Big green button, right there. How could anyone resist?
My form started dissolving, not the see-through ghost thing from before, but actual fading, like smoke in wind. Feet vanished. Legs followed. Mesmerizing, watching my knees disappear, then my thighs, then my waist.
"You!" The flat voice finally found emotion, loud, angry, completely transformed. "What have you done?! Why didn't you wait for my instructions?"
Looking up, I found his face flushed crimson, fists clenched, that perfect tie knocked crooked. My chest was going now, voice sounding strange and distant. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
His mouth opened, hand raising, finger extending—
Darkness swallowed everything. Chin gone. Mouth gone. Eyes gone.
Then nothing at all.
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I blinked.
Green. That was the first thing I registered. Green everywhere. Leaves. Grass. Moss on tree trunks. I stood in a forest. It looked normal. Too normal. Where were the floating castles? The magic crystals? The dragons?
Huh?
What happened? The white room. The man in the suit. The tablet. I clicked Proceed. Then darkness. Then this.
Wait. I feel weird.
I looked down. My body. What was I wearing?
Some kind of leather-bound dress. Brown. Like a jacket but longer. Under it, a silk cloth. Soft. Blue. There was a utility pouch on my hip. Small. Leather. My boots were good. Sturdy. Laced up to my ankles.
The attire I was wearing was blue and black mixed. Bright colors. And a skirt. A skirt like... why does it look like a dress?
Wait.
Am I short?
I looked at the trees. The bushes. Everything seemed taller. Closer. I was 5'10". Back home. In my old body. Now I felt smaller. Like I had lost a whole head.
What is going on?
I lifted my hands to my head. Then Hair. Long hair. It fell over my shoulders, past my collarbone. I pulled a strand in front of my eyes.
Blue. Not blonde.
My character was blonde. Prince of a Kingdom. Handsome. Biceps. Abs. Blonde hair. This hair was blue, Long. Straight. Not blonde.
Huh?
I took a step. My balance shifted. Wrong. Different and I felt lighter like I had lost weight. But also stronger, not much, just a little. My center of gravity was off. Lower. Everything felt off.
My tongue moved in my mouth. It brushed against my teeth. My upper palate. The shape was different. Smaller. Narrower.
I looked at my hands. Fingerless gloves, brown leather. But under them, my hands were smaller, definitely smaller. The fingers were shorter and the palms were narrower.
I patted my body, my arms were thin, my shoulders were not as broad, my waist was smaller, my hips were wider. Something is definitely wrong about this body. I kept patting. Down to my chest.
Huh.
My chest felt heavy. Not painful. Just... there. Something soft. Something that moved when I touched it.
I patted lower. Between my legs. Nothing. Something was missing.
Huh.
HUH?
The hell you mean I'm a girl?!
My hands flew to my chest. I pressed. Soft. Real. I pressed harder. Definitely real. Definitely there. Definitely not something I had before.
"No," I said. My voice came out higher. Softer. Not my voice. "No, no, no."
I looked down at myself again. The dress. The skirt. The smaller hands. The long blue hair.
I reached up and touched my face. Cheekbones. Higher than before. Jaw is softer. Nose is smaller.
"No!" I grabbed a handful of my hair. Pulled it in front of my face. Blue. Long. Flowing. Not blonde. Not a prince. Not a man.
I spun around. Looking for something. Anything. A mirror. A pond. I needed to see. There. A puddle. Muddy but still. I ran to it. I dropped to my knees. I looked.
Blue eyes. Long lashes. Full lips. Pale skin. A girl stared back at me. Seventeen maybe. Eighteen. Pretty. Definitely pretty. But not me. Not the me I chose.
I sat back. My breathing was fast. My heart pounded. But wait. Something was familiar. I touched my face again. My left eye. Something was there. Leather. Old. Cracked.
My eyepatch. I still had the eyepatch.
I laughed. It came out high. Almost a giggle. I clamped my hand over my mouth. That sound. That was not my laugh.
I stood up. I paced. My boots made soft sounds on the forest floor.
I guess the suit-wearing guy made a mistake. The Truck-Kun agent. He seemed so professional. The deadpan face. The perfect suit. The tablet. But turns out he is a noob. A total amateur. He sent me to the wrong world. The wrong body. The wrong everything.
I sighed. It came out shaky.
Now I am stuck in some weird character. Some girl in a dress in a forest. No castle. No kingdom. No dragon named Valhalla. Just trees and dirt and a puddle that showed me a stranger's face.
First things first. I must find a place to stay. I looked up. The sky was visible through the trees. Orange. Pink. The sun was going down. It looked like it was going to be night soon.
I did not want to be in this forest when it got dark. Who knew what lived here? Wolves. Bears. Monsters. This was a fantasy world. Probably monsters.
I began to walk. I picked a direction. Any direction. My boots felt good. Sturdy. At least I had that. And the pouch on my hip. I opened it as I walked. A few coins. A small knife. Some dried meat. A map. Crumbled. Old. But a map.
I pulled it out. Unfolded it while I walked. The lines were faded. The names were in a language I did not know. But I could see a road. A town. Not far. Maybe an hour.
I folded the map. Put it back. I kept walking.
The dress swished around my legs. The skirt part. It was weird. I was not used to it.
I kept wanting to adjust something. To fix something. But nothing was there to fix.
My hips moved differently when I walked. My steps were shorter. My balance was different. Everything was different.
I touched my eyepatch again. The cracked leather. The loose elastic. It was the only thing that felt like mine. The only thing that made sense.
I walked faster. The sky kept darkening. The trees kept looming. My new body kept moving underneath me, strange and unfamiliar.
I did not know what I would find in that town. I did not know if anyone would believe me if I told them the truth. I did not know if I would ever get back to my world. Or if I even wanted to.
But I had to find out. I kept walking.
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I was walking aimlessly, feeling annoyed at what my current state was now. The forest stretched on and on, same trees, same bushes, same dirt under my boots. My boots. At least those fit. Nothing else did.
Not only was I shorter but a girl too? I muttered this to myself as I walked. The words came out in that higher voice. I still was not used to it. Every time I spoke, it startled me.
I need a way to get back to that guy to fix this. The agent. The noob in the expensive suit. He owed me. His truck hit me. His system sent me here. His mistake turned me into this.
Walking in this anatomy felt highly uncomfortable and weird. My hips swayed. I did not make them sway. They just did. My steps were shorter. My center of gravity was lower. I kept overcorrecting, stumbling, catching myself on trees. My chest bounced. That was the worst part. Every step reminded me it was there, making me want to scream.
Though, I suppose this body was agile and lighter. I noticed it when I stepped over roots. I moved smoother and quicker. My feet placed themselves with more precision. I felt a bit stronger too. Not muscle strength. Something else. Like my whole body was more efficient.
Regardless, I kept walking. The trees began to thin. Light came through, not just filtered leaf-light but open sky light. I heard something. Voices, shouting. Many voices.
I think I hear people talking.
I moved toward the sound. The trees got smaller. The undergrowth got thicker. I pushed through ferns and branches. The voices got louder. Shouts. Cries. Metal sounds. Clanging.
I reached the last line of bushes. I could see light beyond them. Open space. I pushed the bushes aside and stepped out.
I was shocked to see what came next.
The ground opened up into a massive field. It stretched for what looked like miles. Grass. Dirt. Rocks. And people. Hundreds of individuals fighting with sword in hand.
Not training or sparring. Fighting, real fighting.
On one side, a line of soldiers in green pushed forward. Their swords flashed in the sun. They shouted words I could not understand. On the other side, soldiers in blue met them. Steel hit steel. Sparks flew.
Someone seriously threw a fireball that way.
I saw it. A man in blue robes raised his hands. Fire gathered between his palms. Orange. Red. Swirling. He pushed his hands forward. The fireball shot across the field. It hit a group of green soldiers. They dove out of the way. One did not move fast enough. The fire consumed him. His scream cut through the battle noise.
"Shields up!" a voice yelled from the green side. "Mages! Counter them!"
Green-robed figures stepped forward. They raised their hands. Ice shot from their palms. It raced across the ground. Blue soldiers tried to dodge. Some made it. Some did not. The ice wrapped around their legs. They fell. Green soldiers moved in. Swords finished the job.
The otaku in me squealed in delight.
This was real. This was actually real. Magic. Swords. Battles. I was not in Kansas anymore. I was not in Kyoto anymore. I was in a real fantasy world with real fantasy fights.
I had to see with a clearer view. From here, I could only see the back lines. The edges. I needed to see the whole thing.
What to do?
I looked around. To my left, the tree line continued. Beyond it, a cliff rose up. Rocky. Steep. But it overlooked the battlefield. Perfect.
I don't waste any time. I went back into the forest line and began heading that way. I moved fast. My new agile body made it easy to weave through trees. To step over roots. To duck under branches.
I was really excited. I get a front seat view. Hehehe.
The cliff got closer. I reached its base. Rock face. Maybe forty feet high. Not impossible. I grabbed a handhold. Pulled myself up. Found a foothold. Moved higher.
My body made it easier. Lighter. More flexible. I climbed like I had done it before. Like this body knew what to do even if my brain did not.
I reached the top. The cliff plateau was flat. Rocky. Sparse bushes. I crawled to the edge on my hands and knees. Peeked over.
Perfect view.
The battlefield spread out below me like a game board. I could see everything. The formations. The movements. The magic.
I lie down on my chest to stay hidden. The rock was hard. Cold. And my chest was still very, very uncomfortable in my current anatomy. The weight pressed down. Squished. It felt wrong. I shifted. Tried to find a position that did not remind me every second that I had body parts I never asked for.
This is good. I whispered to myself. This is really good.
I watched.
There seems to be two sides trying to fight. Easy to spot. One side wore green insignia. Armor. Shields. Swords. The other side wore blue. Their armor looked different. Lighter. More elegant.
The green side seems to be humans. Regular looking people. Sweating. Bleeding. Shouting.
The blue side were obviously non-humans. Their skins were pale. Not white like paper. Pale like moonlight. Like they never saw the sun. And their eyes. Red. Bright red. Glowing even in daylight.
Demons? I wondered. Vampires? Some kind of dark race?
A group of blue soldiers broke through the green line. They moved fast. Faster than humans. Their swords were curved. They cut down three green soldiers before the humans could react.
"Fall back!" a green commander shouted. "Reform the line!"
Green soldiers retreated. They did not run. They moved backward in order. Shields up. Swords ready. A blue soldier chased too far. Three green soldiers surrounded him. He went down.
A mage on the blue side raised her hands. Lightning crackled around her fingers. She pointed. A bolt shot down. It hit a green knight. His armor glowed. He fell. Smoke rose from his body.
A green mage answered. Fire. A blue soldier caught flame. He screamed. Ran. Fell.
This went on. Wave after wave. Attack and counterattack. Magic and steel. Life and death.
I watched everything. My heart pounded. My breath came fast. This was incredible.
Then a thought hit me.
I wonder what my powers are. Do I have any cool abilities? My character is messed up. Wrong gender. Wrong hair. Wrong everything. But not my powers too, right?
I had selected the best ones. Fire magic. Lightning magic. Flight. Invisibility. Invincibility. A dragon.
If I still had those, I could do anything. I could fly down there. I could blast them with fire. I could summon Valhalla.
But did I? The agent messed up my body. Did he mess up my powers too?
I hope not. I really hope not.
I kept watching. The battle shifted. The blue side pushed harder. The green side held. Both sides took losses. Bodies lay on the field. Dozens. Maybe hundreds.
Hey. Why did they stop?
The fighting slowed. Swords lowered. Mages stopped casting. Both sides looked confused. They looked around. They looked at each other. They looked like something had happened. Something they did not expect.
I looked at the battlefield. Trying to see what I fail to understand.
What was it? A new arrival? A signal? A trap?
Then they looked this way.
All of them. Green side. Blue side. Humans. Non-humans. Every single soldier on that field turned their heads. They looked up. They looked at the cliff. They looked at me.
Huh?!
I quickly ducked. I tried to drop flat. To hide behind the rocks. To disappear.
A sharp rock caught my knee. Jagged. Like a blade. It cut right through my boot. Through my skin.
Ow, ow, ow—!
I clutched my knee. Blood seeped through my fingers. Warm. Sticky. The pain shot up my leg.
And then I realized.
I was standing.
I grabbed my knee and stood up, rising from my hiding spot. Full height with full view. The entire battlefield could see me.
I looked down at them. They looked up at me. Hundreds of eyes. Human eyes. Red eyes. All staring.
My knee throbbed. Blood dripped on the rock.
No one moved. They were staring at me…uh…
A/N:
Hello! This is my first ever original work. What do you think?
The story will focus on MC trying to survive in this world, we will explore the POV of side characters as well as their own stories.
I am a huge fan of Konosuba and King (OPM) so you will see some influence here and there. I had tested out five stories before finally settling on this one.
If you have any questions, ask away! I love brainstorming