I woke up in pain. I had been working my usual job in the steel factory, doing my very manly work like carrying wheelbarrows full of iron ore, when suddenly an enormous pile of molted-hot slag had fallen from above and crushed me in a fiery inferno. Not my fault at all, and it was an incredibly cool death scene, almost like the ending of Terminator.

Or maybe I just got hit by a truck while I was on my way home from my fast food job and too tired to pay attention to traffic. I don't know, it's hard to remember. Stop asking me about it, OK?

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was a beautiful young woman, looking down, smiling at me. She had long blonde hair, green eyes, and an expression of open kindness on her face. She was wearing a white dress, giving her the perfect appearance of beauty and purity. I was lying below her, so if this was a light novel, the illustrator would definitely put in a panty shot of her right now. But this was real life, and her dress was too long and modest for me to see anything.

"What happened? Where am I?" I asked.

"Um, I don't know what happened to you. I just saw you here, lying unconscious in the street, so I came over to help. This is Fifth Avenue, by the way."

"Thanks for helping. Uh, Fifth Avenue where? What city is this?" I looked around, and saw a lot of small wooden buildings packed tightly together. The street I was in wasn't paved, it was just hard-packed dirt. There were no cars, or even any machines of any kind that I could see, just a few horses. Mostly it was just full of people walking—almost all of them girls.

"San Francisco," she answered.

"San Francisco, California?" It certainly didn't seem like the San Francisco that I remembered. It seemed more like the set of an old western movie.

"Of course! It's the biggest city in California. Do you really not remember it?" She looked very concerned.

"Well, I do, but not like this. Ow." My head was still pounding, making it difficult to process all these strange events.

"Oh no! That's terrible! I think you should go to a hospital!"

"You’re probably right about that” —I did just wake up from being unconscious in the street, after all—“but I don't have any money. Or do I?" I checked my pockets. I had my wallet, but no cash. I did have my phone, but it was totally smashed. That figured. What else did I have—My Nintendo Switch! And it was miraculously undamaged! At least that was one small bit of luck but it wasn’t going to pay a hospital fee. "Yeah, I can't afford a hospital bill right now, I said.

"No! You must go! Please!" she begged. We need to take care of strong men like you! It won't be too expensive, I'm sure!"

"I dunno, I remember hospitals being pretty expensive"

She seemed genuinely confused now. "Are you very poor? I'm so sorry if you are. I'll pay it for you. It should only cost about five dollars for a night's stay and observation."

Five dollars! That's cheaper than any hotel I knew. Quite suspiciously cheap.

"It's not that I'm poor, but I think I came here from another world. Everything here is different from how it should be."

"Another world? That sounds very strange."

I slowly rose to my feet. The blood rushed to my head, almost causing me to fall again. I stumbled a little, and she caught me, helping me balance.

"Oh! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's just the blood rushing to my head. I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"OK, but please let me help you. I'll go with you to the hospital. But first I have to ask you a question—what kind of clothes are those? They look very strange."

I gave myself a quick check. I was still wearing the same clothes that I'd had on before—a really dorky green and white striped uniform from Lucky Star Burger World.

"They're just my work uniform. I wouldn't choose to wear this, you know. Lucky Star Burger World, assistant to the assistant manager, that's me."

"Are you sure that you're from another world?” She gave me a quizzical look, and then continued. “I'm not doubting you, but your story is very strange, and you did just injure your head…"

"Take a look at this!" I pulled out my ID card. "Eddie Ezler. State of California, age 21, that's me. Fully licensed to drive. I'm an organ donor, too."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

She squinted at the card.

"What is this? I've never seen anything like this. Is this your personal information?"

"Yeah, that's me. That’s my proof, in case you thought I was just imagining things."

"I think you definitely need to go to the hospital. Please, come with me," she said. She grabbed my arm and tried to pull me along.

"Wait!" I said. "I have something else that will definitely prove it!"

"Um, OK, if you insist…" She was very sweet, but I could tell she still thought I was just delirious. I needed to do something to prove to her that I wasn’t crazy.

"I'll show you the amazing technology of my world! For example this!" I reached pulled out my phone and pushed the power button.

And nothing happened. To be expected from a smashed phone.

"Right, it broke when I crashed here. Uh, just trust me, these smartphones are really cool when they work."

"It looks like a very nice hand mirror!" There was a hint of condescension in the way she said that.

"Well, it's supposed to do more than that. Never mind. How about this!"

I pulled out my trump card: my Nintendo Switch.

I turned it on, and it turned on perfectly, beaming out lights and a cheerful startup sound.

"Kyaaaah!" she screamed, in a very cute way. "What on earth is that!"

"Haha!” I laughed triumphantly, “Behold the marvels of my civilization. A gaming device that can be used both as a console and for mobile gaming!"

"What do you use it for?"

"This!" I opened Mario Kart and showed her my elite drifting moves.

After watching me for a few minutes, her face lost its awed expression.

"So, it's a toy?" she asked, with obvious disappointment.

"Well yes. That's what this particular device is for, anyway. There are similar things that can do advanced math, talk to people across the earth, and even think for themselves."

"That's amazing! But yours doesn't do that?"

"Yeah mine's just for playing games. Unless I find someone else here with the same thing, which doesn't seem likely. Oh, and I should probably turn it off now to save the battery." I had a feeling that I wouldn't be finding a charger here any time soon.

"It seems you don't have anything useful," she looked at me with eyes full of pity. "Do you have any money?"

"No." That I couldn't blame on the world shifting—I didn't have any money before, either.

"Well, I guess I believe you then."

"You do?" I couldn't believe how nice this woman was.

"Yes. I don't think anyone would make up such a strange story as yours, and I can't imagine where you'd get a device like that. But I still think you should come with me to the hospital. Please, take my arm."

And so we began walking, arm-in-arm. It was very slow and awkward, like a three-legged race. I didn't really feel dizzy anymore, but she was so cute and nice that I didn't want to refuse. And it's not like I really minded holding arms with a such a beautiful girl, either.

As we walked, we started talking more. I started by voicing my concerns:

"Um… thank for taking me there, but I feel kinda nervous. A hospital sounds expensive. And like I said, I don't have any money at all."

"It's fine, it's fine! Like I said, I'll cover it, and it's not that expensive anyway," Summer said cheerfully.

"How come it's not that expensive, anyway? Where I come from, the hospitals are really expensive."

"Huh? That's odd. The hospital here is cheap because everyone wants to work there. It's a great job, you know? Not much physical labor, so they don't get paid much. I thought it was like that everywhere."

"Where I come from, it's the physical labor jobs that don't pay much."

"Weird! How do they ever find people to do the physical labor jobs then?"

"They just… do? Guys like me with nothing better to do have no choice."

"Are there a lot of men where you're from?" Summer seemed very interested.

"Well, the usual. 50/50. Or, no, it's actually like 52% male for young people I think."

"Wow!" Her eyes lit up. "That's incredible! Where are you from!? I've never heard of a place like that."

I couldn't help but make a small joke. "A place called 'The Isle of Man'. It’s very far from here. Near England."

"The Isle of Man—wow" She seemed to be struggling to imagine the place.

"Right. So anyway… What's the gender ratio here?"

"Like normal. 80% female. Maybe a little more." She said this as if it was completely unremarkable.

"You mean, there's four girls for every guy here?" I was shocked.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah. that's human nature. Geez, is it some hick town there in the Isle of Man? Don't they teach basic biology? We need at least four women for every male since only women can get pregnant. But men can impregnate lots of different women. How else is the human species supposed to propagate?"

"How else? Um.. don't most mammal species do it one-to-one?"

"Geez!" She reddened. "Yeah but those are animals. Humans aren't like that. For humans, the males are very, very precious! That's why it's so important that we protect you!" And then she gave me a hug, pulling me into her chest.

"Oh, well… thanks, I guess" I genuinely didn't know what to say. I'd never been very popular with the ladies. I'd certainly never gotten attention like this, from such a gorgeous girl who I'd just met. I didn't know how to react in such a situation.

She suddenly turned bashful. "If you wanted to… you know, when you're better. We could like… go out together sometime, maybe?"

This girl was just too damn cute. But while I was thinking that, she got self-conscious.

"Oh, but I'm not pressuring you! Please don't misunderstand! It's not like I'm trying to make you go out with me in exchange for the hospital fee, or anything like that! I'd never do that! I just thought I'd ask, just in case, but it's totally fine if you don't want to!"

I had to admit, I was tempted to say yes. But I was still too weirded out by everything that had happened.

"Summer, you're very pretty. Maybe sometime. But not right away." She seemed chagrined, but nodded. "Instead do you think you could do me another favor? Help me get a job? Then I can pay you back for this."

She turned chipper again. "Oh, sure! You'll have no problem getting a job! I'll help you find one, no problem! But like I said, you really don't have to pay me back."

"Thanks. All the same, I'd rather pay my own way, you know!"

"Aww, so cute! But OK! I think I know the perfect place for you to get a job. I'll take you there once you get checked out at the hospital."

I could hardly believe how kind and helpful this girl was. I thanked my lucky stars—ironic, given the name of my old work place—that it was her who found me, and went with her to the hospital.