Chapter Text
“Thank you.” the convenience store clerk said as Subaru took the snacks he had just purchased.
Subaru kicked himself for not properly mumbling “you’re welcome” before he’d left. Store clerks were just about the only real world social interaction he had nowadays, aside from his parents. He should try to speak to them, try to be nicer.
As he stepped out he noticed a young couple holding hands and an ugly feeling welled up deep inside him.
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He found himself lying down looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling.
Where was he? He bolted into an upright position. Where was he?
He was lying on a bed under covers in a small room. It was completely unfamiliar, no trusty computer beckoning him, no smiling silver haired little maidens of plastic looking up to him from the desk, no silver haired heroines looking down from posters on his wall.
This was not his house. But it did not look like a hospital either? It was dark and he could not find a light switch so he finally opened the shutters and noticed the window had no glass.
The city did not look anything like home, stone buildings with red roofs, he could not see much from this vantage point but it looked vaguely like pictures he had seen of Italy.
He could not have been hit by a bus could he? No, he felt fine.
And Japan had good hospitals, they would never fly him overseas for any sickness or injury.
But it clearly wasn’t Japan out there…
He waved his arms through the window and fell back with a start – no it was real not a screen and he’d almost fallen out!
Wait! What was that on his hand?!
One hand was dark, but it did not hurt or anything and seemed normal otherwise, his other hand was fine. Has he spilled ink all over it?
He remembered uneasily how he was told in elementary school that India ink would never cease to stain. Surely that could not be what happened to him? No, it had to clean off somehow,
It wasn’t on his face was it? There was no mirror, he had to find one.
The room had little aside from the small bed, both a chair and a stool, and a little table covered with a profusion of fresh flowers in a vase.
He was wearing his trusty track suit, everything but shoes which he soon noticed on the floor.
Actually those shoes did not look like his old sneakers, they were some sort of leather shoe but they were the only pair he could see in the room.
Still that aside things were fine, he put the shoes on and found they fit perfectly.
Well that was a bonus.
He found he had some unfamiliar but seemingly valuable coins in his pockets, plus a notebook? Well no time to study any of that now.
He opened the door with some trepidation and was greeted by an empty hallway.
The building looked nice, but not like a hospital or anything at all.
Where could he be?
It was not dark but the light bulbs looked kind of weird. He had never heard that European lightbulbs were that different. Could he have been isekaid to some fantasy world? A ridiculous thought but… it would be pretty cool. Not as cool as being isekaid to the Sengoku period where he could have achieved his rightful destiny as a greater Nobunaga but still.
Subaru stopped to study a large oil painting. It showed an entertaining fantasy battle where a number of white robed soldiers led by a red haired girl with some sort of magic sword were killing horrible monsters. Giants, wolf men, multi-armed creatures, some things that practically screamed “undead” lurking in the shadows, all very evil looking. It was incredibly detailed and realistic like an old Dutch painting, Suburu got a little queasy seeing the little human baby so close to the glistening jaws of the one wolf man, so far away from the red haired girl leading the charge….
“Hey!”
Subaru looked over and saw a monster.
First he saw massive furry clawed paws. Looking up he saw black trousers, a great hulking torso, covered in dark fur mounted by a massive, wolfish face. One thick arm ending in a bloodied bandaged stump.
It was leaning on an enormous blade.
Subaru turned and ran.
He had the presence of mind to bite himself. Hard enough it hurt. This was no dream.
He was clearly not in Italy.
Slamming a door shut behind him he propped it up with a chair and started running down a sunny hallway when he saw someone ahead of him.
Long flowing silver flowing tresses like moonlight, a beautiful face, flesh the colour of pure snow, a slender body in a strange and magical outfit primarily of white and purple. She looked like everything that monster behind him was not. Behind her he caught a glimpse of a distinguished looking, silver haired gentleman, he looked far older, but most importantly neither looked like monsters.
“Subaru!” The girl cried, in a voice like a tinkling silver bell. She knew his name?
This vision of divine radiance knew his name?
He stopped his pell-mell run right in front of them, they looked alarmed.
He noticed another thing about her, her ears ended in tapered points.
Elf ears.
“You’re the one who brought me to this city right?” He asked the girl.
He must have been isekaied, that was the only explanation. Could this beautiful girl be his summoner?
“Yes Subaru, I did I guess, I mean yes I take responsibility for bringing you here.” She replied.
“Oh but I’m so happy Subaru-”
There was a bang, the monstrous wolf man was at the door.
“There’s a monster!” Subaru cried.
“A monster? Subaru I-”
He swirled around and saw the terrifying creature coming through the door, now off its hinges.
“Don’t worry milady I shall protect you!”
If he’d been isekaied to another world by a summoner like this then he must have gotten some buffs right?
Time was running out but still no need to panic.
It was still tutorial time.
“Falcon Punch!” He shouted, trying to will a great magical punch at the creature while he was still out of range of its arms.
He felt a great force leave himself, less from the fist he threw while he shouted and more from his chest oddly but he saw a magical punch smash right into the howling monster, sending it flat on the ground.
He turned back to his Summoner with a smile of victory.
Only to be met with stunned faces of concern from both the lovely girl and the old man.
“Subaru what are you doing? That’s Ricardo, our ally!”
“Oh. Uhm, I did not realize that. Uhm he looks like he’s still alive…”
The thing clearly had a lot of hit points as he was still moving, but he also did not look up to standing right now. Subaru had a queasy feeling in his stomach but he thought that may have been from his magic punch, it seemed to take a lot out of him.
His summoner ran over to the beast man and kneeled down. “Here, let me heal you a bit, I’m sorry, I did not know Subaru could even do that, he didn’t mean it I’m sure. There, there, just rest for a moment, Wilhelm, can you help take him back to the infirmary ward with the other wounded? I’ll talk to Subaru and make sure he’s okay too.”
That thing was their ally? Subaru thought back to the painting he’d seen on the wall and shivered.
Just what sort of elf queen had summoned him?
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“Subaru…” she said hesitantly, biting her lip.
He should say something he really should, but what?
“Uhm. Subaru, I did not know you could, uh falk on punch like that?”
“Oh yes that’s a Subaru Special I’ve always been able to do that, one of my most basic moves.”
Evil witch or not, she was very pretty and he wanted to impress her.
Oh wait! Subaru winced. What if she knew exactly what powers he’d started with, she was his summoner so of course she’d know.
“I’ll be able to do more once I level up of course. I’m sorry I didn’t realize he was your minion.”
What other sorts of minions did she have? Goblins? Kobolds? For some reason he had a feeling they were near water, could this be one of those settings that threw in Deep Ones and Shoggoths too?
“I did not know you could do that. I’m really happy to see you up and about Subaru, we were so worried when you would not wake up. Beatrice ran so low on mana that she’s-”
“I am happy to be here with the prettiest elf maid in the land.” He said loudly.
No wait, he’d interrupted her. And flirted with her really poorly.
Why don’t they teach you flirting in school? If they taught something useful like that then perhaps he would have kept going to school.
“Subaru! You’re always so… anyway we were all so worried about you, there are so many people all over the city who won’t wake up just like that Rem girl, and then there’s those like Lady Crusch and… and I was so worried about you.”
With that she placed her wondrous face in his chest and started to cry, wrapping her arms around him.
She was a slender girl but her grip felt… tight. Like there was no chance of him escaping it.
After a moment she calmed down. He saw her face, which still looked so gorgeous after she cried.
“What happened after we were separated Subaru? I thought you suddenly went ahead to fight Gluttony, I was so sure…” She looked at him with a face that was just so incredibly adorable, honestly if he had been hit by a bus to get here it was worth it.
“Subaru… do you know my name?” The lovely girl asked.
“Uhm, uh kind of, of course, uhm maybe uh no, not at all.”
There really wasn’t a better answer at this point. Was he supposed to guess? Oh wait! What if he was supposed to choose right there and he’d just given her the worst name ever?
“Subaru.” The elf maid hugged him tightly, her arms were slender but seemed incredibly strong.
“It’s okay Subaru, it will be okay. I know this is scary but your Big Sis Emilia will look after you, it has happened to others so I do not want you to feel discomfited in anyway, we will find a way to fix this!”
Big Sis huh? Not quite the relationship he was hoping for… or was it?
And who said words like ‘discomfited’ any-more?
This was an interesting starting scenario – having everyone know him, but with him supposedly having amnesia. This way they could introduce world building and characters gradually. Quite a sophisticated tutorial mode.
Falcon Punch was pretty good too, how to determine if he had anything else?
“Subaru are you hungry? It is almost time for lunch.”
The lovely face hesitated, those incredible violet eyes looking down.
“I made… uhm I was thinking of you and I made some mayonnaise, do you… do you still remember mayonnaise? You used to love it so…”
Those violet eyes were filling with tears.
“Of course I remember mayonnaise, it’s just a condiment.”
Sure he liked mayonnaise but it certainly did not seem like something worth crying over.
“Uhm I mean I love mayonnaise, of course I do, it will make the meal delicious I am sure!”
She seemed really down about his lack of mayothusiasm.
Hopefully this wasn’t setting a flag. It was too early to lose points on this.
Should he mention his collection of 776 mayonnaise lids he had saved in his room or would that be setting a bad flag? Or would that set the wrong flag, he did not want people to think he was weird.
Subaru appreciated mayonnaise to a strictly normal degree after all.
She took his hand and started leading him to what he presumed was lunch. Her grip seemed… incongruously strong. But he was inclined to trust her.
This was the tutorial mode after all.