“Wooooaaaah!”
I have no idea why, but I’m falling. I’m falling through the sky.
“Ouch!”
How am I on my butt already? I swear, this fall felt longer than it actually was.
What’s going on? Miyuki showed me that weird hole that was unlike anything I had seen before, and then… she pushed me in.
Why did she do that? Maybe I feel in on my own, and she was trying to pull me back up.
No… she definitely pushed me in… Does that mean she hates me? I’m kinda sad now.
This is all because I decided to talk to her. Why did I have to try to do such a stupid thing? I should have just gone straight home, like I always do. Never experiment, never try new things, never take any risks. I like this saying because it’s supposed to be the worst piece of advice possible, so why is ringing so true?!
This is hopeless. Where am I? I was falling for so long I thought I was gonna die. That was the scariest moment of my life. This looks like some kind of alley. Maybe all that falling was just some kind of dream. This must be somewhere near that parking lot. I bet that hole too was just part of the dream. The ice cream probably made me sick or something.
I was still very disoriented when my ears started picking up some kind of noise.
What’s that? Are those voices?
The main street was right in front of me, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Dozens of people passed by this alley every second. How is this possible?
Did something happen? There’s never this much movement.
That’s not it, everyone knows exactly where they’re going, this is their routine. It’s chaotic, and they bump into each other but quickly brush it off and keep moving. Where am I? This isn’t Three Records City.
I took another look at the people passing by and noticed something even more alarming.
They’re not human!
Almost every single person passing by had a combination of demonic horns, wings, and a tail. I saw a few of them that had none of those things, but either their bodies were slightly see-through or they had animal ears and tails.
For a moment, the word cosplayer popped into my mind, but there’s no way that would be the case. This is all very familiar. I can tell they’re the real deal.
The sky was covered with dark clouds colored with a mixture of red and purple, violently raging around a bright energy spiral that converged into a single beam that descended into the ground far off in the distance. Even without the sun, the spiral was enough to light up everything.
I know what this is.
I finally understood the reason behind that familiar feeling, the sky gave me the last hint I needed.
This is another world. I recognize this world. It’s from a game. This is that one demon city we go to in the middle of the game.
This is bad. Am I really in a different world? Am I really inside the world of a game? That hole must’ve been some kind of portal. This is super exciting! I’ve always dreamed of being transported into some kind of fantasy world!
Did it have to be this game, though? I don’t remember its name, but this game was weird. The gameplay was nice, and there was a lot of build variety, but the story was a mess, and that made it sort of a cult classic. I remember playing it, but I don’t remember much about the story. The characters were good, so that’s a plus. I wish I was sent into a better game, this one is not one of my favorites. Though, it might not be so bad. Maybe a more versatile game like this one makes for a better world to actually live in.
A woman with cat ears passed by, and I saw her ear twitch before she quickly looked my way. She stopped for a second but soon continued walking with the crowd. I was so startled that she saw me that I quickly went to hide.
I really wanted to explore, but I decided not to. This is way scarier than I ever imagined. I’m completely powerless, and the demons here are not particularly fond of humans. As awesome as getting sent into another world sounds, I don’t think it’s that good in practice. Is there a way to go back to my world? Where did I even fall from?
I looked straight up and saw the very same thing I saw before coming to this world. The portal is right above me, but it’s high up in the air and completely out of reach. I can faintly see the parking lot on the other side. Maybe there’s hope.
I have to find a way to get to it. It doesn’t look like it’s higher than the rooftops. I could jump down into it, but then I’d need to enter a rooftop first, and I would get caught the moment I entered any of the buildings. Even if I could get to a rooftop, I would have to be able to jump down from a roof. I don’t know if I’d be able to. That’s scary! What if something goes wrong?
Climbing is my only option. There are some access stairs to the roof, but they don’t start from the ground. There is some furniture near me. Is it abandoned? If I push some things around, I might be able to reach those stairs.
I got started on my plan, but pushing large furniture in the middle of the street wasn’t exactly easy. I don’t think I’m a particularly strong girl, so I have to push them bit by bit with my entire body. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t exactly stealthy.
“What are you doing over there?”
“Uhh!?” My body involuntarily jumped when I heard a voice behind me.
I turned around and saw a horned man staring at me. I don’t think he’s figured out that I’m a human yet, since he didn't immediately attack, but he’s not gonna be happy when he does. I’m cornered, I can’t go into the main street behind me and I’ll just enter another street if I try to run past him. My only option is…
This way!
Before he even had time to realize what was going on, I ran deeper into the alley on my left. I had no other choice, I recognize his uniform, he’s an enemy from the game, if he catches me, I am dead.
Luckily, the path gets more and more complicated the deeper I go, so I keep taking random turns to make it harder to be tracked. I’m glad I walk home from school, I may not be strong, but at least I can run. I have to shake him off somehow, I won’t be able to go back if I’m captured.
My plan worked, and after running for a while, there was no one coming after me anymore.
I can’t breathe, all that running really tired me out, my chest hurts.
Where am I? The alleyway seems to end here.
I’m so worried. Am I going to be able to go back home? I never thought being in another world would be so scary…
I had two options for where to go now, and both options led to big streets. Going in either of those directions would get me found out in an instant, so that’s out of the question.
In front of me was a tall fence that seemed to span from one of the streets to the other.
This is big… what is it? Some kind of factory?
I quietly approached one of the exits into the big streets to peek around the corner. I know I should be trying to go back, but I was a little curious. I also don’t have much hope that pushing furniture around is gonna help me get back to my world. Even ignoring how hard it was to push things around and how much noise it made, I think the access stairs would still be out of reach.
Around the corner was the entrance to the big building and it was guarded by two guys wearing the same kind of clothes as the guy from earlier. I quickly returned to the alley before I got found.
So this is where he worked…
Wait a second. In the game, the uniform those guys were wearing appeared in that girl’s science center. If they’re guarding the entrance, that means…
This big thing is that science center?!
I’m in trouble! This place is crawling with guards. I gotta get out of here.
I started walking away, but then remembered that I don’t have a way to go back home, even if I go back to where the portal was.
This place in game is the sole reason why we come to this city. They weren’t researching anything in here at the time, but there’s a lot of loot inside, and it’s a great grinding spot.
This impossibly well-guarded place has a fatal flaw in its defense. There’s a window in a storage room near the back that doesn’t lock properly. That’s how we get inside in the game.
Should I go in? It’s dangerous, but I’m not gonna find a way to return if I just go back.
They have so many crazy things inside, I’m sure I’ll find something that can help me. This is a good opportunity. I think I’m on the side they entered through in the game. There should be a container nearby I can use to jump over the wall… there it is.
I approached the container and tried to climb it. This was the second time today that I cursed my lack of strength. Why is it so hard to climb something my height? Am I just fat? No… no way… right?
After jumping over the wall, I was finally inside. It was supposed to be a good thing, but it finally hit me that I didn’t have an easy way to get out of here.
Was this a bad idea? What am I doing? It’s do or die now, I should have just gone back. This is the same thing that happened with Miyuki. What is wrong with me today? Never experiment, never try new things, never take any risks. Do I learn nothing?
My body is frozen. I have to calm down. I should be able to sneak in if I’m careful. I’ll grab something helpful and go back home, it’s not that hard. This is not like me, but it’s too late to regret things.
I was scared, but I composed myself, and I was finally able to move again. There was no one nearby, but I still slowly moved from cover to cover in the direction of the broken window. This is it! One last sprint, and I’ll be able to get in-
“Why did you wake me up?”
I heard a voice nearby, and jumped back behind cover instantly.
“We’re guarding the main entrance now.” The earnest guard answered his sleepy colleague.
“Why are we being moved? Is there an intruder? I don’t think there are any demons crazy enough to try to sneak in here. Not even a spirit could phase inside. We’re ready for anything.”
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“I don’t know why. I was only told we had to relocate. The boss is coming back from school soon. It’s probably just so she doesn’t catch us lazing around.”
“You might be onto something. It sure is more plausible than an intruder.”
The two voices gradually got farther away, and I could get to my goal now, but I didn’t move immediately. I got so scared when they appeared that now I can’t move. My heart is beating so much.
When I finally felt safe, I moved once again and got to the window. I didn’t think this through properly. What if the window is not broken? When was it broken in the game? Am I gonna be stuck here with no way-
“Oh.”
It opened.
That’s a relief. I took a peek inside, and it looked familiar. This is the right place. If I enter through here, I think I’ll be behind most of the guards, and I’ll be able to look around without being found.
Am I gonna be safer inside? I can’t afford to worry about that. I won’t be safe regardless unless I can go back to my world. I’ll go in, I’ll grab something useful, and I’ll go back home. There’s no other option, I can do this!
Alright, here goes nothing.
----------------------------------------
At the same time, a young-looking demon girl enters the control room of the science center like she owns the place.
“Welcome back, Velvet-sama.” As soon as she enters the room, she’s greeted by a man overlooking the room.
It’s the only greeting she receives, as everyone else must pay attention to what’s happening on the screens in front of them.
“I’m back.” The girl arrives straight from school and sets down some of her stuff. “What’s going on here? Did something happen while I was away?”
“It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with. One of our men ran into someone suspicious on the alleyway, so I had some of the personnel change their positions.”
The demon girl’s face remained calm while she received the man’s report. “That’s good. We can’t take any risks at this point. Make sure you don’t overlook anything and take all the necessary precautions to ensure nothing goes wrong.”
“Of course, I’m very well aware of that.”
“What’s the full picture? What orders did you give?”
“I ordered some of the patrolling guards to reinforce the entrances to the main building.”
Now, the girl’s face turned into a small frown. “Have them move again. Leave some people near the entrances, but I want guards in the research room. Have them preemptively grab anti-spirit and anti-vampire equipment too.”
“Excuse me, but isn’t that too excessive? As long as we prevent anyone from getting inside the main building, the research room will also be safe.”
“I said quickly. Nothing in this whole facility is as valuable as that masterpiece. You might not remember, but the hero has already been found. As soon as we’re done with the final touches, we have to get that to the hero. We’re kinda trying to prevent a repeat of what happened in the last war, you know?”
The man took a second to recompose himself from the sting of the girl’s sarcasm. “I understand. I’ll give the order right away-“
*WEEEE WOOOO WEEEE WOOOO!!!*
Just as the demon girl started to relax, the sound of an alarm caused her to jump. “What’s that alarm? What’s going on!?”
A voice coming from one of the other workers answered her.
“I- it’s an intruder! That’s the intruder alarm. It’s looks like they’re in… the research room?!”
“WHAT?!” This is the absolute worst-case scenario Velvet was trying to avoid. “Mobilize everyone! Catch that intruder no matter what!”
Her orders sent the whole facility into a frenzy. Every single guard started running towards the main building, towards one singular point, towards one single human girl.
----------------------------------------
After I left the storage room, I started searching the nearby rooms for anything that could help me return to my world. I had found some things that looked a little promising, but nothing I could say would help me get back for certain.
“Research Room?” I stared at the sign above one of the doors with some curiosity.
I think I remember this place from the game. It was empty in the game, but I think it was an important room. By the time we came here in the game, whatever research was going on there had already finished, so I never got to know what they were researching here.
I’m really regretting not speaking with the NPCs more… I was too focused on grinding. I bet some of them would have some lore.
At what point in time is this? Have they already finished their research? Maybe I should take a look… Even if it’s already done, I might find something else.
I gently pushed the door open and sneaked inside.
What’s that?
In the middle of the room, floating in the air, was a small, mostly circular object with a small crystal in the center. Around it, there were three lasers converging onto the crystal in the center. It looked like the object was being charged.
“Wait… Is that…?” When I took another look at the heavily decorated object, I was shocked. The more I looked at it, the more I started to recognize what it was.
“What was it called? It’s the VISS Driver, right?”
I can’t believe it! Is that really the VISS Driver? My curiosity got the better of me, and I started moving closer to get a better look at it. In the game, it was the VISS Driver that the protagonist and the other characters got their skills from. I had no idea this was where it was made. This is a very rare find. It’s a shame I don’t know how to use it, otherwise, I might have found a way to get back-
“What?”
By the time I noticed, one of my fingers was touching the VISS Driver. The lasers stopped, and the crystal started shining brightly. I don’t think it liked being touched because it retaliated, and I started feeling a sharp pain coming from a place that I couldn’t pinpoint, it felt like it was coming from my chest but deeper, like from my very core.
[VISS Driver EX installed successfully.]
The pain and the blinding light subsided, and the object disappeared. Now I was hearing a soothing voice in my head, and some text appeared in front of my eyes.
[New user detected. Iroha Shinohara registered as the new user.]
It worked. I think the VISS Driver is working. I can’t believe it. Now, if I can access the skill system from the game, I might be able to find a way to go home. All that’s left is getting a good skill, and I’m set.
[Error. No records found for Iroha Shinohara. Unable to present user with suitable skills.]
What? You gotta be kidding me. The way the VISS Driver works is that it would allow the player to pick and choose which skills the player wanted each of the characters to have. The available skills changed depending of the character and the actions the player took. If the system can’t find any suitable skills for me, I’m screwed!
Why is this happening? No records found? What does that mean? Is this because I came from another world?
[Initiating correction subroutine. The system will observe the user’s actions and gradually present them with suitable skills as it gets to know the user.]
Is it working? I think I’ll start getting a list of possible skills to acquire as time goes on, but that’s not good enough. I need something to get out of here quickly.
In the game, every skill was associated with a skill tree, when you purchased a skill for a character, it would lock in that tree for that character. You could lock in up to 6 trees for each of the characters, but every character already had a few trees locked in by default. Even though we could only pick some of the trees, the system was incredibly customizable, and the choices you made would result in incredibly different ways to play.
Right now, I have all of the 6 slots empty. And here I thought that starting with a blank slate would be a good thing when I played the game. Now I wish I had some skills and trees already locked in.
[Iroha Shinohara: Lv.1]
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 50/50]
[Skill Points: 10]
Oh! I can see other things now. 10 skill points… that’s enough for one basic skill. I need to level up if I want to get more skill points… but how am I supposed to do that? By killing monsters? I’ll worry about that when I get to safety. My top priority is to get out of here. Is there really no skill that’s suitable for me?
[Recent activity by Iroha Shinohara detected. Analyzing recent activity…]
What is the VISS Driver doing now? Analyzing recent activity? Is it trying to find a suitable skill for me? That’s nice. It said there were no records of me, so it’s probably only counting what happened in this world. If that’s the case, then it was just wrong when it said there were no records. I’ve been here for… I dunno, at least one hour, so that means there should be some records for the system to find some suitable skills.
“Don’t move!”
“Surrender, and we won’t have to hurt you!”
“H- huh?”
All of a sudden, every single door to the research room opened, and guards started pouring in from every side.
It took less than thirty seconds for me to be completely surrounded by dozens of guards.
Great, out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I wanted to run, but I was too scared, and my legs wouldn’t move. The guards saw me standing still and started getting closer.
How did they even find out I was here? I thought I had managed to sneak past them. I guess this is a very important location since they were working on the VISS Driver here. Makes sense that they would have this place under tight watch.
[Significant event found – Escaping pursuer. Calculating suitable skills.]
It’s too late… I don’t think I can escape anymore. I just got lucky earlier when I escaped from that one guard. Why did I think sneaking in here would be a good idea? It only created to more problems for me. Now they’re gonna catch me, and who knows what they’re gonna do with me…
“What’s going on here?”
I heard a girl’s voice coming from behind the guards on an elevated platform.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?”
Is she their boss? She looks younger than me. She must be some kind of genius.
The girl had a frustrated look on her face, and she was glaring at me. She looks familiar somehow… Wait! She appears in the game, doesn’t she? I didn’t immediately recognize her but she’s actually the head researcher here. This whole thing is hers.
Yeah, I remember her, I would never forget a girl as cute as her… What was her name… Velvet… Power… something… What was her last name again? She looks a little different from how she looked in the game. Her hair is a little shorter, I remember it reaching down to her waist, and her chest is also smaller. No way, did they nerf her boobs? I’m sure they’re supposed to be on the bigger side.
She’s still as cute as ever… She has amazing dark blue hair that curves a little bit outwards near the end, it even has that mysterious, golden glow that’s seen in the game, reminds me of space, of the galaxies, and colorful dust shining in the dark. It’s great and it’s great that she’s also wearing the same stylish blue and yellow outfit from the game.
What’s great about Velvet is that she gives off a slight royalty vibe. The way she poses and moves and how she looks like she’s always annoyed. She makes me want to touch and tease her just to see how she would react.
She’s obviously a demon, and her horns make that apparent. They’re not the smallest ones I’ve seen today, but they’re not too big either, and they match the color of her hair nicely. This gives her a stern look, but then she wears a cute, simple, two-colored hairpin that makes her look so adorable and approachable and balances things out.
I kinda wanna talk to her… I know it’s a terrible idea, so I’m absolutely not gonna do that. I wish I could, though.
“Oh no… My masterpiece!” Velvet’s face is filled with despair. “The VISS Driver is gone! Don’t bother capturing her, just kill her!” She yells out her order and then speaks to herself anxiously. “It’s not too late, maybe we can still salvage something…”
Excuse me? Kill me? Does she really want to kill me?
[Suitable skill found.]
[Momentum – Agility Burst (Cost: 10 Skill Points)]
Agility… what? I don’t have time for this. Velvet’s voice snapped the guards awake. They’ve taken out their weapons and are ready to fight. One of the guards is equipped with some kind of halberd and starts running towards me!
What’s the skill? Agility Burst? I really don’t have time for this. I’m gonna get chopped in half, is that blade real? It looks like it’s gonna hurt! I wanna run away! Move, legs, move!
The guard swung down the halberd, and it stabbed into the floor. Before I had noticed I had jumped out of the way in an instant.
[Skill – Agility Burst acquired.]
I bought it in time. I bought the skill in time. There was so much going through my head, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. If it wasn’t for the skill, I would have been dead. Wow…
The guards were caught by surprise, but they were professionals and quickly composed themselves. Initially, I had been completely surrounded, but as the guards got closer to me, I started seeing some gaps in the encirclement.
One of the doors from where the guards entered had no one guarding it now. It’s on a higher level, and normally, I’d have to pass by the guards near the stairs to get to it, and that would never happen. But with my new skill, I think I can just jump up to it.
I activate Agility Burst and jump to one of the higher platforms near me. I grab onto the railing and vault over it to get to the door.
“She’s running away! Don’t let her escape!”
I heard Velvet’s voice behind, but I didn’t stop running. I didn’t know where I was going, but this way didn’t have anyone guarding it. I guess all of the guards went straight into the research room.
I’m glad I grabbed the VISS Driver. I don’t think I would have been able to escape otherwise. I was really scared it wasn’t going to work out, but I managed to barely scrape by.
The guards were faster than me in a straight line. Now that I think about it, their level is probably much higher than mine. The only reason they haven’t caught up yet is because of all the heavy equipment they’re carrying.
Soon enough, I reached some stairs. As the name implies, the Agility Burst skill gives me a short burst of strength that allows me to make some very impressive maneuvers. I could have run up the stairs normally, but I decided to climb straight to the top by activating the skill.
[MP: 30/50]
Using Agility Burst seems to spend my MP. Is it based on the number of uses? I don’t know, but it has wasted a lot of my MP already. I’m not gonna be able to use it a lot more.
I’m on the first floor now. I think my little stunt will buy me some time. I don’t know how going higher is going to help me escape, but I didn’t have any other options.
I started running through the hallway in front of me. I can’t believe what’s going on. I’m getting chased by a bunch of guards while doing some kind of weird parkour. I never thought I’d ever be in this position. I’m not gonna lie, this is getting a little fun.
Suddenly, I had an idea. Can’t I just escape through a window? I’m not that high up, and I think I’ll be fine with my skill. I started trying to open some of the doors I passed by, but either the doors were locked or the windows inside were too small.
My pace had slowed down, and the guards caught up to me. I had no choice but to keep running and praying that the room at the end of the corridor would be open and have a nice window to escape from.
“Huh? It’s not open?”
It was open. I was just being an idiot, and my hand slipped from the handle because I was panicking. I got inside and saw what I assumed to be a meeting room of sorts. Lucky for me because that meant it had these huge windows from the floor to the ceiling.
Wait, do I just run into the window? Is that going to break it? I looked behind me, and saw that the guards were getting closer. I just have to go for it. I activated my skill and charged at the window.
“Woah!! Ahahahahaha!”
I soared out of the first floor and landed just fine. I couldn’t say the same about my shoulder, who couldn’t be too happy with my decision to charge into the window. There weren’t any cuts on my body, so I was more than happy with the result. I looked at where I came from, and the guards were already there ready to jump after me. It wasn’t a small jump, but with their training, I’m sure this is nothing to them.
In front of me is the main gate, but if I went through there, I’d be in one of the big streets. But that’s the gate I saw earlier, which means the portal should be…
“This way!”
I ran towards the same wall I used when I came here and activated my skill again. I jumped over the wall and entered the alleyway again.
[MP: 16/50]
This isn’t good. I’m almost out of MP. At least now I have a way to get out of here. I’m glad I decided to enter the research center. If I can just get back to where the portal was…
Getting back to the portal was harder than I thought. I knew its general direction, but I kept taking wrong turns, and that caused me to slow down.
The guards were very persistent, and they had caught up to me again.
I’m so close… I can’t let them catch me now.
“Is that…?”
I turned around a corner and saw one of the pieces of furniture I had been moving around earlier.
“Stop!”
“We’ve got you surrounded now!”
When I got closer, I found myself getting surrounded again. The guards seemed to have gone through the main streets in order to surround me.
I can see the portal from here, but how am gonna get there? There were guards on every side, but the worst part is that there were a lot of them between me and the portal.
They didn’t have any intention of capturing me alive anymore, and multiple guards started charging at me with their weapons.
Is this the end? No, I can’t let myself get caught here. Fuck it. Here goes nothing!
I activated my ability and jumped on top of the wardrobe next to me. Then I immediately jumped towards one of the walls. There were plenty of gaps and other places I could grab onto, so I was able to quickly jump from wall to wall and get closer to the portal.
Some of the guards reacted in time and started jumping and climbing to try to catch me.
So persistent! Just give it up already! I’m going back home, and you can’t stop me!
I was finally close enough, and I jumped towards the portal. I felt myself being surrounded by a mysterious light and a very familiar falling sensation.
“Ouch!”
For the second time today, I have fallen on my butt. Though this time, it was a smile that formed on my face rather than worry.
I’m back. At the same parking lot where I fell into that other world. The car I saw before was still here, but the portal was now gone.
I did it! I’m back! I’m so glad! What a relief!
“Who are you?”
Before I could even see where the voice came from, there was a blade up against my neck.
Ahaha… great… here we go again…