Kumagi Akira was left stunned, he was not just stunned but drowning in guilt. His best friend, Ryuji, had pushed him out of the way of a car and ended up dead because of it. As Akira lay there watching the scene in front of him, he suddenly realized something, Aimi was in love with Ryuji. He had seen her following them on occasion but he never thought too much of it.
There were plenty of girls in their high school that were a bit too shy for their own good and seeing one that wouldn’t approach guys wasn’t all that rare either. Some girls were taught to fear men by their families while others had some sort of trauma caused by men. He had mostly ignored her and figured she was that kind, but now he understood. Seeing the girl screaming and flailing, trying to get into the ambulance with the body of… of…
Akira broke down crying. Not only had he gotten his friend killed, but he had also deprived Aimi of a chance to ever go out with Ryuji. He had just been clowning around and then the car was coming at him. if only he had been paying more attention.
The paramedic was helping him into a different ambulance. He had gotten a headwound from being shoved into the curb by Ryuji. His head was pounding and the paramedics said he was having trouble following the light they were shining in his eyes. They thought he might have a concussion and were taking him to the hospital.
The next day, several of his friends from school showed up at the hospital. His parents had left early to go to work and he had been trying to sleep and not think about what he had seen or done. His friends all said it was just survivor’s guilt and he was sure they were right but that didn’t make it hurt any less. If he had just been paying attention, his best friend wouldn’t be dead and he wouldn’t have heard the complete soul-rending despair of his classmate Aimi.
It was only a few hours after his friends left the hospital that he was released. They said that his injuries were not severe enough to warrant the risk of staying in the hospital with the new disease going around. He didn’t feel like the pain in his head was reason enough for him to stay there any longer either. Akira changed into his fresh clothing his parents brought from home and headed in that direction. It was only a few minutes’ walk to his apartment anyway.
Akira was walking along in a daze and apparently never saw the car that did hit him. he never even felt it. The first indication that he had that something was amiss was when he was sitting and not walking anymore. And where was he sitting anyway?
As he looked around, Akira discovered it was an office or something. There were file cabinets and huge stacks of papers on a huge wooden desk after all. The walls were a neutral tan color and there was a single door into the office. The door looked normal enough but Akira was noticing that was the last of the normalcy in the office.
He jumped out of the chair and began prowling around the not-quite-normal office if that was indeed what it was. On one wall was a latticework rack full of rolled-up maps and what looked to be magic scrolls. There was a normal office chair on the other side of the desk but the contraption on the desk, partially hidden by the stacks of papers, looked like some steampunk amalgamation of a typewriter and a clear touchscreen computer.
There were other discrepancies too, like the glowing crystals in brass settings, on the wall where a regular light would be. The fan on the ceiling looked normal unless you actually looked at it. If you did, you would see that there was no motor and there were small slightly glowing lines of text on each blade, and let’s not even mention that the fan was floating there while spinning and not attached to the ceiling at all! Akira marveled at that a bit. “I bet that’s handy if you have to switch offices”
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Suddenly a low, gruff, and exhausted-sounding voice replied from the door. “You’d be surprised how many offices don’t have the ceiling space or mana control to use it. I was quite glad when I found that this office had nothing on the ceiling actually.”
By this point, Akira had already looked over and was astounded at the being that was entering the office. It was a Yokai! The Blue skinned Yokai continued. “Mind taking a seat for a couple minutes while I look at your file? I had a girl in here a bit back who had a bad reaction to what I said and I don’t want to make that mistake again.”
Akira took his seat in one of the two plush armchairs on this side of the desk while the Yokai took up his spot in the office chair. He had a scroll in the gold talons on his hand and was perusing it while looking occasionally at Akira with glowing solid red eyes, then finally spoke. “I see.”
Akira was slightly unnerved by the simplicity of those two words. They could mean just about anything and his subconscious wanted to automatically go to whatever was the worst-case scenario. His bout of anxiety about being dropped into a pool of demons or something equally terrible was relieved a moment later when the Yokai spoke again, the gold horn in the center of his forehead catching the light as he looked at Akira. “You are also acquainted with the other two. I will then send you to the same world where I deposited the souls of Naguchi Ryuji and Nakano Aimi. I cannot put you in the same location as either of them but there is only one continent, sort of. If you want to meet up with them, listen for stories of their likely fame and exploits.”
“On that note, I will now make you the same offer they had. You may choose between an epic weapon and the skill to use it, an epic spell book and the magic to use it, or an infinite coin pouch and the charisma to make use of it. Whichever you choose, the item can’t be stolen from you. You will also be reborn in an adult body but will have a long life-expectancy. Make your choice quickly.”
Akira didn’t hesitate. “I’ll take the magic!”
When he came to his senses he was on his hands and knees in the grass. One fact came to his senses rather quickly, he had thin, dark-tan hands. Next to his right hand was a very thick and rather ornate tome of some kind. One glance was enough to tell him that this was his promised spell book!
Akira grabbed the spell book and sat back in the grass to peruse the contents. He looked around and found himself on the top of a hill. It was just one of many rolling hills for as far as he could see in any direction. Well, any direction, save the one with the tall mountain range looming in the distance.
He thought better than to be too complacent and looked about for any obvious dangers approaching. When he was fairly certain that he was safe for the moment, he checked his person and found a dagger on his belt and a few coins in his pouch. The coins were all copper so he figured that if the anime trope were to hold, then he was pretty much broke.
He looked at the ornate tome, turning it over and over in his hands. It was bound in metals and inset with a few precious gems just like something out of a fantasy painting or the pages of a manga. It also had a very convenient open topped leather belt case that he would have to fasten when he had perused the contents a bit.
He opened the back cover and marveled that it was even in Japanese! Listed out were every gesture and full diagrams of the magic circles plus how to make everything he would need to cast any of the spells. This tome was truly priceless!
As he was closing the tome, he noticed something in the metal of the back cover. He caught a glimpse of his face and he was startled, to say the least. The first thing he noticed was the vibrant blue hair in a ponytail to the side. That brought his attention to the long, pointy, brown ears. He was an elf?