Izumi brings herself over a spiced cider and pulls up a chair at my table. "Sorry to interrupt your thoughts."

"It's fine." I smile. It's good to see a familiar face, and it's heartening that I've found one of the victims already.

One of the victims... That's funny. I guess I'm one of them now, too. I can't think of myself and the other girls as separate groups of people. I almost forget about the boys who were summoned, too. We're all in this together. Every last one of us.

"So," Izumi says, her eyes darting sideways nervously. "Has it really been a year?"

"It has. You were the first to go missing and I’m the fifth. I don’t know if he plans to abduct anyone else, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

"That creep," she swears, along with a few other words I won't mention in the interest of keeping this appropriate for all ages.

"You worked at The Flowering Tea Emporium, right?" I ask.

"Yeah. I was at work when he summoned me."

"I thought so. Everyone said you never came home from work that day, and all the other girls who went missing worked there, too."

"Don't tell me you—"

"Got a part-time job there in order to solve the mystery? You bet."

"Hiyorin.” She groans. “This is what happens when you play detective on your own."

"I solve the mystery?"

She sighs. "No. You get screwed over and ruin your life for good. The police would have figured it out sooner or later."

"Right, because they're so quick to believe in Demon Lords and magic summoning rituals. I'm still not sure I believe it. But at least now that I'm here, I can focus on getting us back."

"Didn't he tell you? We can't go back. The spell doesn't work like that."

"I don’t believe it. Not one bit.”

"So, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to march back into that castle with all of the girls he's taken and I'm going to get us all back home. Even the Demon Lord. We may not be able to pin the real crime on him, but being sent back to the real world is an appropriate punishment. He won’t have any of his authority." I take a sip of my second mug of cider. "I'm sure we'll figure out how to get him charged with something."

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Izumi puts a hand on my shoulder. She's warm, unlike the demons at the castle. I'm momentarily stunned, as if I'd already forgotten what it was like to feel the touch of a friend. Getting sent to another world can really mess with your head.

"Sinensis is still the Demon Lord. He might not be a real demon, but he has the same powers. We're not going to get anywhere until we learn to fight. He’s probably level twenty!"

Finally, something I understand! Sorta. “I thought he was level unknown.”

“Then you can see it, too?” she asks.

“See what?”

“Stats. Labels. The whole system.”

“Uh, yeah.” I feel like an idiot. This isn't my genre at all. “What does it mean?”

“Everyone here is connected to it,” she explains, explaining nothing. “I’ve gotten a lot of information from it, like what kinds of skills are available. I’ve trained a few low-level ones, but the real unique stuff is locked. Probably behind a paywall.”

“A paywall?”

“Forget it. Bad joke.” Izumi takes a long sip of her own cider. “

“So we have to find a way to learn skills? Could someone teach us?”

"I always thought—" She bites her lip. "Don't laugh."

"Why would I laugh?"

"Just promise."

"Okay, okay. I promise, Izumi."

"I always thought it would be a good idea to go to the royal capital and find the mages that summoned him in the first place. The ones that keep summoning heroes. We could ask them to give us the same kind of equipment and training and use it against him."

"But why would they believe us?"

"Why wouldn't they? They're the ones who know how to perform summoning magic in the first place. They'd recognize otherworlders when they see us."

I can't believe I'm going along with this. "Suppose that does work. You think we're going to be able to learn magic?"

"He did it. The other heroes do it. Why not us?"

"Okay," I say, taking another long sip of my drink. "Fine. We do it your way. We'll go to the capital, get some magic juice, and fight fireballs with fireballs."

She smiles. "Now that you're here, I feel like I really have a chance to escape this town and see the world. I was too scared to go on my own."

"Which is why you became a waitress?"

"I was already doing that at The Flowering Tea Emporium. It isn't exactly a stretch to do it here," Izumi says with a roll of her eyes.

"Fair enough."

"I just need to get clearance from the boss for some time off. We can visit a cartographer and start planning our trip as soon as that's done."

"Cartographer. Look at you, assimilating with the locals."

"Shut up," she mumbles, suddenly shy.

I've missed her.

"Let me get this over with." Izumi takes off her apron and goes into the back to speak with her boss. The two come out back to the table together.

The boss is an older woman, a little overweight, dressed in commoner's clothes. Her hair is gathered together in a tight bun.

"You want to drag my best girl on an adventure?"

She crosses her arms and looms over me, but I won't be intimidated. After meeting with a so-called Demon Lord, nothing in this world can give me pause. I stand up and we lock eyes.

"Yes."

She pauses at my immediate reply, thinking it over before breaking into a smile. "Then take care of her, you hear?"

"I'm sorry?" I didn't expect it to be this easy.

"Really, Miss?" Izumi asks.

"You know I want you to be happy, Izumi," the older woman says. "If that means you won't be around for a little while, that's fine. Your friend looks just like you did when you showed up on my doorstep. I have no doubt she'll help protect you."

"We're going to leave in the morning, then!" Izumi hugs her, and I get the feeling they're a lot more like mother and daughter than employer and employee. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"I expect you to come back in one piece," she's told sternly. "Now, you'd best get some early rest so you can get an early start."

I interrupt with a yawn, "Sounds good."