Watashitachi No Samayo Jikan

Our Wandering Time

You know that feeling when you’re just minding your own business, and the next thing you know you’re trapped in a completely different world? Oh? You don’t?

Well it’s not great. No, I didn’t get hit by truck-kun. Or stabbed by serial killer-kun.

I should start over, huh? Let me explain…

I just can’t get a break, you know? Everything was going fine, finally. I found an actual job. One that has actual benefits. Alright, it wasn’t a great job. I was going to be working at a convenience store. But, it was more than minimum wage, and there was insurance. It was even close to home so I wouldn’t have to take the bus.

Why is the bus a problem? Because I’m, as somebody once put it, ‘a very pretty man’. I drew second looks and lingering gazes like gravity draws water to its level.

Does that not sound like a problem? Well it is. It can be quite uncomfortable to be stared at, to occasionally hear people whisper, to be judged immediately based on my looks and nothing more? Then of course there are the perverts. Pervs aren’t as particular as they pretend. And honestly, I’m a little bit shy about that kind of thing. Maybe more, it’s hard to appraise myself, but I guess you could say there’s a disconnect between how I’m seen, versus how I see myself. Or…saw myself. At least in public, I guess.

My success then, was just about perfect. I’d be able to walk to the store only a block or so away, do my job, and walk home without a problem, sure I’d have customers. But on a late shift there wouldn’t be that many, and nobody can linger too long at a register. So it was a big win, in a way.

The next thing I know, I’m walking home, practically skipping, thinking of all the tinker kits I’d be able to buy with my leftover pay… and then I’m just not.

Not that I stopped skipping.

More like I stopped being on my world entirely.

First, I was in one place.

Then, I was in another place.

The street was gone, the streetlights of the late evening were gone, the sidewalk was gone. Even the guy up the street lurking in the alley that I was pretty sure would try to give my tail a grope as soon as I walked past…

Was gone.

In place of all those things were bright lights that blinded me for a moment before my eyes could adjust, four white walls that if I had to make a guess were made of magisteel. (But who knew?)

Oh… and a group of people screaming in front of an oversized computer like something out of an old historical documentary. The cause of their scream was, I assume the leaking green fluid that was flowing over the floor.

You know what? I don’t even care that ninety percent of any genre is garbage. The popularity of genres means we can be prepared for the most absurd worlds imaginable.

And it didn’t hurt that since I’m a tinker and a giant weeb, so honestly… this was the ideal ‘crisis’ for me. At least I didn’t have to figure out how to move, or eat moss, or monster meat, or grope NPC boobs… Okay, that last one might not have been so bad.

Anywho, since I knew right away that we were dealing with coolant, a pretty simple substance even if I didn’t have magic. However, based on how the people in white coats were reacting, retching, spasming, screaming, rushing for a door that was already shut and clearly locked.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

A green light began to flash and strobe around the walls and a long keening wail like some banshee out of the underworld drowned out the cries. My ears folded down immediately in an attempt to protect me from the horrific noise, and a slender man with a racoon mask face, ears, and tail rushed over and grabbed me by my vest. He shook me violently with both hands and screamed, “Fix it! Fix it! For the love of the gods, fix it!”

Wait. My ears folded down? Look, I was born a normal human male, my ears don’t fold. And they’re definitely not on top of my head.

He thrust his skinny arm out and pointed to the stinky coolant. “Please, ma’am!” He screamed and began to hack and cough.

‘Ma’am?!’ I looked down. ‘Why do I have boobs?!’ I screamed in my head. Then felt something against my legs, I don’t know if I subtly controlled them to bring them into view or if it was just how they fell right then but…

I had a tail. No. Multiple tails.

I tried to twitch ‘it’. Gone. Yep. Out of nowhere a thought came to mind. ‘In most anime the protagonist where there’s some body swapping or something they at least get a few moments of self exploration. Here I am getting squat!’ It was hard not to be indignant. I’ve gone from male to female and from human to… I reached up and touched my ears. Definitely a fox’s ears, and those were multiple fox tails, I’d have to count them to be sure, but thankfully I recognized at least what I’d become.

A kitsune.

I wish I could say I was completely calm, but who would be? How could I be? Even without the gender and species swap I’d just been put through, their panic was infectious. Still, it was just a ‘feeling’ of theirs and I was a very talented tinker if ever there was one. I recognized the stuff and it seemed harmless to me, even as I now was.

The real problem throwing me off was all the noise and the certain knowledge that the heavy door that other scientists, (or so I assumed them to be) were pounding on so desperately, would not be opening. Even if I solved the problem, would I be able to leave, or get home?

But with his desperate command or plea or whatever it was, I snapped back to reality and out of my own thoughts. It was do as he said, or be trapped alone in a strange place with a bunch of corpses? Great. Just great.

I shook him off, pulling his hands free, my heart pounded from being grabbed so suddenly not to mention the rest, but with a clear direction on what to do and full knowledge of how to solve it, I had enough mental fortitude to push him away.

He stumbled back but didn’t fall. He was caught by one of his colleagues who froze up and watched while I walked over to the disaster. People often think of fight or flight reactions, but there are actually more. There’s fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

I reached into my kit, yanked out what I needed, a ‘wet dispersal breakdown cloth’ or ‘WDBC’ for short. A useful little addition to any tinker’s kit, this little baby could clean up spills, stains, ‘If it’s wet, we’re your best bet’ was their slogan, and it had never failed me yet.

I rubbed the cloth over the green fluid on the floor, stepping on it with my boot, I rubbed it hard and took a look at the machine. I was surprised by how familiar the interior was. I couldn’t ‘fix’ this without more complex tools, but I could stop the leak.

I yanked out my sealing clamp out of my belt, clicked the grip together three times, then shoved my hands in the gap of the device, closed the seal together and watched the ripped rubbery section melt. I held the clamp down until the leaking stopped and the rubber dried. ‘If you need a clamp, we’re the champ.’ A clever slogan from a clever company. Half my tails danced as I watched my successful aversion of the ‘crisis’.

I went back to the green stuff on the floor, gave it one more quick wipe, then picked up the cloth and watched the stain vanish as the chemagic material eliminated the thick goopy green stains. For good measure I wiped away any trace of a stain off my hands and then said in a crisp, clear voice, “Done!”

That snapped the room to attention, the pounding on the door slowed and the fox people, racoon people, and humans turned their heads with deliberate reluctance, as if they feared my word was a lie.

Only for their fear twisted faces to become elated, with howls, whoops, and hollers of glee as they saw the source of their terror was simply gone.

Most of the time, people who save the day are greeted like heroes. Hugs and embraces, shaking hands and profuse gratitude but… my luck, remember?

Not that I didn’t understand. That stuff was pretty tame to me, but if people here were vulnerable to it? Well, there were things back home that would kill people if they were exposed to it.

But the real question was, ‘Why was I brought here?’ I looked at the machine, it took up most of the wall, it had a slew of screens and dials that were all on the fritz and full of data I couldn’t read through the static.

Could it be an accident? Or…?

Being me, I of course dreamed of the idea of being a great hero, every weeb born in the last twenty years had their own belief in why they were summoned to another world and what they’d do when they got there. Everybody wanted to be the ‘chosen hero’.

The scientists approached, albeit not too close, and an old gray haired fox bowed his head to me. “You saved our lives. Thank you, stranger.” He said and began to wring his hands.

I sensed the awkwardness of the room begin to rise as the ‘grateful rescues’ rubbed the backs of their heads and looked away from me while mumbling, “Yeah… thanks… really appreciate it…” in various forms.

“I’m sorry but, before you begin with the praise… can I just guess,” I cocked my head and cleared my throat, “you can’t send me home?”

“I’m… afraid that’s right.” The old fox pointed toward the machine and reflexively took a step back. “Thanks to some nefariousness that was broken, we had only enough fluid for a single desperate summon.”

“Oh, so you summoned me to be the hero this world needs?” I perked up and my tails wagged as I felt the call of destiny, the start of my hero’s journey, the culmination of all my weebish dreams!

“Oh, no, we just needed someone who could safely clean up that spill.” He explained.

I groaned. I was trapped. And my first ‘quest’ was to be a janitor.

My name is Aiko Tsuniki, and this is my story.