I sat up. The bed creaked. The floor was cold.

Yeah, that was about all that was the same as the morning before. Everything after this would be weird, I knew. There’s no way it wouldn’t. Actually, just waking up in a place like this was far beyond anything I ever thought I’d be able to do.

Up to now, I’d lived a pretty normal life. Very few complaints and no real expectations or want to go any higher in my social standing. To be fair, I felt like there was little in life that I was willing to change. I had a feeling that any change that I did might crumble the good I had.

I couldn’t let that happen. Even if that meant I wasn’t close to friends or family. Even if that left me with no girlfriend. It was for the best. Maybe it was that thought process that led to me ending up in this situation in the first place.

Some God out there was really having a field day with me…

I looked back at the massive mattress I’d been laying on. The blankets were a deep red and were softer than the fur of a chinchilla. The pillows were nice and soft and almost felt tailored to my preference, which was impossible, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Nice pillow, soft blanket, girl sleeping next to me, what else could I ever ask fo—wait, girl sleeping next to me?!

With the sleep expunged from my eyes, my gaze landed on the figure on the bed.

Peacefully lying there, next to where I was a few seconds ago, was a pale-skinned girl. She was in the fetal position tightly hugging a pillow. Wriggling around, a cute groan escaped her thin lips. From my angle, it was easy to see she wasn’t wearing much—scratch that, she wasn’t wearing anything at all!

Peaking right off the side of the pillow was the slight curvature of her chest, just as pale as her shoulders and arms. Apart from that one thing covering her front, everything else was out in the open. Not a thing left for the imagination…

W-What?! Who is she!?

Believe me, I was out of it. I’d arrived at this place the night before, did nothing but sleep, then I woke up to a girl sleeping next to me. I couldn’t even remember how I got here. All I knew is that I was here, and a girl was sleeping naked next to me.

Ever since coming to this place, I’d talked to a single person. Well, “talked” would be a generous way of putting it. I was basically just shoved into this room and told to rest. Another thing I knew was that I hadn’t come alone. However, this girl was not them. I could say that with certainty.

I looked around the room, but there was nothing different from how it was before. Spacious, massive windows to the far back of the room, and a single closet against the right wall. As far as I knew the door was locked throughout the night and I checked every part of this room so she couldn’t have been hiding anywhere.

Where did she come from then?

As I questioned this, the girl let out a yawn and stretched out her limbs. She flipped on her back before stretching out again, exposing more than she had before…and forever engraving that image straight into my brain.

“H-Hey,” I said to catch her attention. At this point, it was a given I would be slapped or punched or taken away by the police for entering a girl’s room or something. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if the guy from earlier had just tossed me here to get me arrested.

With that in mind, was the same thing happening to Tanada right about now?

I thought back to the girl I’d arrived in this world with.

Yesterday, I was awoken by a friend of mine, Yoshinae Tanada. Seeing her majestic emerald eyes wasn’t something I was used to waking up to. Her long jet hair hung just above my face, brushing up against my nose as she desperately tried to wake me up.

“Tsuji. Tsuji!” she repeated.

I’d felt my cheeks flush as I sat up. I know I’d said before I didn’t like change, which is why I didn’t have a girlfriend, but let me just make an addendum there. Although, I was afraid of actually getting a girlfriend, that didn’t mean I didn’t have a crush on anyone.

And this girl right here was exactly that person who I had a crush on.

Of course, I quickly asked, “W-What happened?”

She breathed heavily as she answered, “Don’t know.” Her cute features were contorted into those of worry. We both looked around but found ourselves in the middle of a field. Short grass covered the floor with patches of flowers scattered throughout. The deep orange of the sun reflected off a few ponds nearby. And there was a faint almost ticking sound coming from…somewhere.

I weakly got up and helped Tanada get up as well. We seemed unharmed, but we didn’t recognize a single thing around us. Even if we could chuck it up to us ending up in some random field by chance, which was impossible based on where we lived, one thing couldn’t be explained.

“The trees are…floating…” she mumbled while facing the sky.

Yes, only now, after following some thick tube-like protrusions on the ground nearby up to the sky, I noticed what they actually were. Roots. They led up to large trees that otherwise looked pretty normal, if not a little oddly shaped, and with silver strips running up the bark.

“That’s…kind of cool,” I admitted.

“Yeah, but how do they even do that?”

And now we were getting off the matter at hand.

But there wasn’t much else we could figure out. It was turning dark which was never good in the wilderness and there didn’t seem to be anything near us. No buildings, structures, or mountains, just a whole lot of nothing.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Oh,” Tanada suddenly let out. She bent over and picked up something from the floor. After inspecting it, she turned to me a showed it off. “Look!”

“Um…a rock?”

“Isn’t it cool though? Look at these markings, they’re like metal,” she tapped the rock a few times.

Although yes, the rock looked interesting with its oddly mechanical look, it was still just a rock. Not much of a solution for our predicament.

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

She pouted, “And now you’re lying.”

“N-No I’m not. Why do you say that?”

“You’re making that face you do when you lie.”

Do I make a face when I lie? It’s not like I could see that in action, but I couldn’t be that easy to see through, right?

Anyway…

“I guess I just didn’t take you for someone who likes that kind of thing,” I admitted. For as much as she was a friend, and my crush, I couldn’t say I knew her that much. Again, that’s basically all by design, but that did leave me with moments like these where I’d suddenly learn something new about someone.

“Really? Didn’t I tell you how I used to collect rocks when I was little?”

“I don’t think so,” I felt like that’d be something I would’ve remembered.

“Well, now I did!” she said excitedly. She was getting really worked up about this. There was even an ear-to-ear smile plastered on her face as she continued. “I had a box filled with them. I’d pick them up wherever I could! My dad and I would always…” she trailed off. That bright smiled from before dissolved until there was nothing left. “A-Anyway,” she continued after clearing her throat and stuffing the rock into her pocket. “We should look around. Maybe we’ll find something.”

“…Right,” I mumbled.

I’d never heard her speak of her family before. It didn’t sound like she wanted to either.

We’d met at the beginning of high school and only then realized we actually lived right next to each other. I know, how cliched of me, falling in love with the girl next door. At least she wasn’t my best friend or, god forbid, my childhood best friend…not that I had either. Still, I’d never confessed my feelings for her, for reasons that I’d already stated. But I’d be lying if I said a small part of me didn’t wish I had the bravery to accept change and to risk trying to get closer to someone—at the very least her.

After walking a few meters in one direction, the direction picked by Tanada herself, she took a long deep breath. “If worse comes to worst, I guess those camping skills we learned that one time will come in handy—oh wait, you didn’t go camping with us, did you?”

I groaned, “No…that I didn’t.”

That brought back some memories. Since we shared similar friends, a group of them decided to go camping one summer vacation. I was invited too of course, but I politely declined and instead spent all my summer inside my house. Bored.

“That’s a bummer. It probably would’ve been a lot more fun if you’d come,” she smiled.

Wait, what does she mean by that? As far as I knew, it would’ve been the exact opposite if I’d come. It’s not like I was the life of the party anywhere I went. Not even close. But maybe she means fun for her? As in, she would’ve enjoyed herself if she’d spent more time with me?

As if.

“Oh well, guess you’ll have to rely on me if things get hairy,” she nudged my shoulder.

“Guess, I will,” I awkwardly laughed.

That bright smile of hers. That’s the one I’d fallen in love with all those years ago. I had no idea how we’d gotten here, but honestly, just the fact she was here with me was making me forget the situation altogether.

…

And that’s when he appeared.

Riding a silver and bronze dragon with metal plates for skin and bright orange eyes. Its massive wings created a gust of wind that nearly knocked us off our feet. Mechanical clicking came from the movements of the beast before an equally mechanical roar erupted from its mouth.

“Um, Tsuji…you’re seeing this too, right?”

“…the dragon?…yeah…”

It was an impossibility, as far as I knew. There shouldn’t be dragons, especially not one like that. But, much like us being in a random place in the fields, here was the impossibility taking shape.

So distracted by the beast in front of us, I didn’t even realize how close Tanada had gotten. Our shoulders were touching and she was brushing her hand against mine.

As we looked on in shock, the figure riding the dragon jumped and slammed onto the ground in front of us. A flutter of sparks lit up our field of view. Behind those sparks was a single man.

His expression was firm, but there wasn’t a hint of hostility behind it. Long white hair tied in a ponytail hung from the top of his head, contrasting his pitch-black eyes.

His outfit consisted of a stylish red-ish outfit with white and yellow lining, and a bronze gear hung from the left side of his chest. His pants, the same color as his eyes, also had a dagger holster on his right hip. An appearance straight from a fantasy story.

He looked young, older than me of course, but he was no older than twenty-five.

His smooth pale skin gave him a ghastly complexion.

Just his stare alone made me take a step back.

“You two…come with me…”

So yeah, now I was here.

I originally thought we would get a ride on the dragon, but apparently, our destination was much closer than we anticipated…that being the equivalent of a teleporter. We were each taken to a room where we could sleep for the night before we were meeting “the queen” in the morning.

Let me tell you, that meant absolutely nothing to me.

But none of that mattered right now. What did matter, may I remind you, was this unknown girl sleeping naked in my bed, or more accurately now, sitting there naked.

Thinking about it, how long had I been staring? I truly didn’t mean to, but this being the first time I’d seen a girl naked in front of me, it was hard to turn away.

The girl turned her head sideways and looked at me for a few seconds before letting out a smile, “Oh, right, guys like these right?” she lifted her breasts.

Huh?! That’s the first thing she says to me? Not a speck of shame on her cute features. And I wasn’t staring at her breasts either. I know that sounds like a lie, but I really meant it…well, maybe I peeked a little bit…for a few seconds maybe…but that’s beside the point…

“You’re not going to cover up?!” I quickly said.

“Eh…it’s too much effort,” she groaned.

“To put on clothes?!”

“To keep them on,” she corrected me with the lift of her pointer finger.

“R-Right…” I had no way to respond to that. How was I supposed to react in a situation like this? This girl literally didn’t care about being naked in front of others and apparently preferred it over wearing clothes. If the dragon hadn’t been enough evidence this was another world, this girl definitely was. “Can’t you at least wear…something?”

With a sigh, the girl inched closer to the edge of the bed. “Oh well, I guess if you insist.”

Just as I was about the breathe a sigh of relief, two thin arms wrapped around my neck and dropped me to the bed. It was so quick I had no time to react. The next thing I knew, the naked girl from before was sitting on top of me, squishing my stomach, as she held on to my face with both hands.

“I will need you to pitch in though,” she smirked, bringing her face centimeters away from mine. Her shallow breaths brushed my lips, a subtle scent of mint wafting to my nose. She laid down entirely on me, pressing her soft chest against me. Before long, her lips touched mine, a new softness overriding my senses.

“…Hmp!”

A suckling sensation filled my mouth. The girl’s tongue traced the crevices of my teeth, forcibly trying to pry my mouth open.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. It all happened so fast. I was still trying to process what was going on. The one thing that was running through my mind was the feeling of her lips. As you probably could’ve guessed, I’d never kissed a girl before either. So yes, my first kiss was practically stolen from me…not that it matters now, I guess.

I grabbed her waist to try to push her off me, but she wouldn’t budge…but it did feel nice—

I faintly heard the turn of the knob but being too distracted at that moment, my brain didn’t process what that meant. I also didn’t think much when I heard the rumbling of the door opening.

“Hey, supposedly the queen is ready to—”

It was only then that my eyes darted to the side. That’s when I noticed someone was standing by the door.

Black hair, green eyes, and a face I could recognize with just a glance.

It was my friend, and crush, Yoshinae Tanada, frozen In place, staring at me as I made out with a naked girl in bed.