It took several moments before I realized something was off. Cars, shuffling feet, trains, shouting, the ever present musical notes of convenience store doors, the high wind that day and the cold of mid winter. The sounds and sensations of the city were gone. The screaming and screeching tires of those last moments before I had slammed my eyes shut echoed in my ears. All had been replaced by a stillness I had never experienced. A quiet deeper than anything I thought possible before that moment. A comfortable, mild warmth with the lightest breeze gently tussled my hair as a musky earth tone, the kind you read about in light novels of far off lands, wafted through the air.

In stark contrast to my surroundings, my heart was still pounding as blood swam madly through my head leaving me slightly dizzy. My arm and leg muscles twitched and spasmed as I lay stock still. I could feel my chest heaving great breaths of air, the panicked feeling lingering in my chest like a vice tightening on my core. Yet it was so calm and peaceful around me.

Ahh so this is the afterlife? I thought. The realization didn’t have quite the effect I would have previously thought. I felt the fear leaving both my mind and body even as I came to that conclusion.

If this is what awaits me, perhaps it’s not so bad. This mild weather wasn’t something to fear; in fact I’d say it was comforting. The gentle breeze lulled me to peaceful thoughts as I felt the tension bleed from my body. My muscles quieted down, my heart gradually returning to normal and my head found its footing. Instead, a half awake, dreamlike state came over me.

I thought of my mother and father; lingering momentarily on my younger brother and sister. They were such wonderful little siblings, always smiling up at me to play with them. Perhaps it would be easier on them than my parents. They had only just turned six last month. Too young to have more than a few dim memories of their lost older sister. I wouldn’t get to see them anymore. I hoped they wouldn’t cry, though I knew they would. I wouldn’t get to see my school, the small yakiniku shop I worked at, or the ocean in all its massive glory again. I never got to go to the aquarium on a date like I had wanted, or to an onsen with a group of friends.

My friends...Yui. Kaede. I hope you’re alright. I hoped they had avoided the worst of the hit. Maybe they lucked out and would only be hospitalized. If not, perhaps they were in the same place I was. It would be nice if they were taking it as well as myself. I let out a small internal sigh. Nothing can be done about it now. I rubbed my hand on the soft grass covering the ground. It was so comfortable here, and yet...something was digging into my shoulder now that I thought about it.

Wait, can one even feel comfort or pain if they’re dead? Surely that’s not how it works right? In Western society, they commonly believe in Heaven and Hell. In one you experience everlasting peace; in the other...well, Hell I guess. Would I experience both in one of those places? I’m not the religious type so I wouldn’t say I know best, but everything I’ve been led to believe would indicate one or the other. If that’s the case…

I heard a groan to my right followed by rustling as someone or something moved. I wrenched my mind back to earth, my eyes flying open. A massive expanse of stars filled the skies; more dotted the heavens before me than every star I had seen in my entire life before combined. After a moment I made out a fog that was partially obscuring my view and some small part of me wondered at the sight of the stars if it were removed. Ripping my eyes away from the beauty above, I turned my head towards the sound. Gently, quietly, I lifted myself up, inch by inch, barely daring to breathe.

The fear was back. My hands trembled and my mind raced as it envisioned all sorts of morbid monstrosities that could be awaiting me. No more than a few feet from me a small, dark mass lifted itself to a sitting position, a strange triangular shape protruding from what should have been the right side of its head.

“Tch tch tch” it cooed as the shape wobbled up and down.

What is that?! What horrible thing is that!! Is that it’s mouth? A beak? Maybe it has some sort of fleshblade on its head, like that one anime with the parasitic creatures! No no no, let's stay calm and think rationally now. Rhino horn, that’s more realistic. If I let my imagination get to me, there’s no doubt I would lose my cool. I needed to remain level.

The creature pulled the top part of it’s horn away from its head...or is that just an arm? That’s definitely a hand on the end of it. Wait, I recognize that high side ponytail. I felt my face flush with embarrassment momentarily. How silly to immediately jump to such crazy thoughts. This was part of why my mother was so worried about my future.

“Yui?” I whispered.

“Hinata! Is that you?”

“Yeah it’s me. Are you alright? Did the truck hit you?”

“Ugh, my head hurts,” Kaede’s groan reached me from somewhere below my feet.

“Kaede? Are you alright? I don’t think it hit me but I don’t really remember...where are we anyways?” Yui asked as she got on all fours and crawled towards me. I lifted myself into a sitting position and found Kaede laying, facedown, almost touching the soles of my shoes. She turned her head, her usual vacant look replaced by a somewhat anguished face speaking to her discomfort.

“I’m fine, I think. How come I’m face down in the grass instead of my bed? Or better yet Yui’s lap?” she mumbled.

“Kaedeeee! Now is not the time for that! Look around you, this isn’t Tokyo!” Yui hissed, exasperation filling her voice.

Now that Kaede had drawn my attention to it, I realized we weren’t in an open field exactly. Behind me were the ruins of what appeared to be some sort of town or settlement. Or at least I believe that’s what you would call this. None of the structures were big enough for a city like Tokyo. Or any of the provinces I had been to before. Even when my father had been stationed stateside, the buildings took up far more land than any of the ruins around seemed to indicate. More than that, the materials were off. Solid stones, not the cinder blocks I was accustomed to, appeared to be the primary building blocks. The remains of thick wooden beams were still clinging to the walls at the height of a second story or roof. Perhaps if I were to wander inside I’d see planks for flooring. What I would have expected to see, but saw none of, were the metal construction materials all buildings in both the states and Japan had.

No rebar, no screws. No wires, pipes, or beams. I didn’t see a single lighting fixture, or electrical socket. No insulation materials, nothing looked like solid concrete or drywall. These were not buildings made in the twenty first, or even the twentieth century. These had an appearance closer to that of a Medieval European castle.

“Oh...look at how big those trees are.” Kaede pointed opposite the ruins, to the edge of a forest a hundred yards or so away. The trees seemed to tower into the sky, the trunks easily as big around as a semi truck.

“They’re HUGE! Hey, hey, Hinata! Look at those! They’re like the trees from the pictures with your dad!” Some of Yui’s lighthearted nature came back to her as she bounced excitedly where she sat.

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“Mmm, the Redwoods you mean?”

“I remember somethin about that…'' Kaede murmured. Her initial surprise having passed, she had already made note of the tree’s appearance and was scooting around to look past me at the town.

“Yes yes! I wanted to go see those at some point! Like look at ‘em! How can you not be inspired?” Yui seemed to glow as she beamed up at the trees, her neck cranked back to look at their tops.

“Inspired?” I asked skeptically.

“Yeah! Like, you know, if those trees can become soooo hugely massive, if they can put in that much effort, what could I achieve if I tried?” Yui asked, though I suspected it was a question she was asking herself. “I don’t know how to put it, but I would love to ask them how they managed to keep going through so much to obtain such a status.”

“They’re trees, they don’t put in effort. They just grow Yui. They don’t think like you and me,” Kaede stated bluntly, looking at the other girl with a mixture of humored sympathy.

“Ehhhh!? Are you laughing at me?” Yui asked, puffing her cheeks childishly. Kaede grinned and quickly covered her mouth with a hand, turning her head away slightly. Though it was hidden by the darkness, I was sure she was blushing at the sight of Yui’s cuteness.

“What about you Hinata? You agree with me right?” Yui pleaded with me, holding her curled hands in front of her face, almost like she was peeking over them at me sheepishly. The effect was immediate; I couldn’t help wanting to hold her close and pat her head. She does this on purpose right?

“Well...I don’t know about being inspired...but they leave me in awe of their stature...I...I guess?” I managed to fumble out, trying my best to express that I sort of understood what she meant without stepping on the more grounded views brought by Kaede. Yui’s eyes became moist, though I couldn’t tell if she was happy or sad. Before she could respond, Kaede stood up.

“This is all well and good, but I’m more interested in discovering where we are,” she grumbled loudly, patting off her uniform. Her pragmatic outlook was tiring at times, and certainly left no room for magical moments. She was reliable, however, and she had helped me through stressful times, separating emotion from fact in a way I never could.

“How do we do that?” I asked, looking up at her from where I sat, timidly patting a still misty eyed Yui on the head. “It seems to be the middle of the night currently. Even if the moon is full, it’s rather dark, and I don’t see the telltale glow of city lights anywhere on the horizon.”

“True, which is why I want to take a more detailed look around,” Kaede responded, holding her chin in one hand. I could tell she was deep in thought as she began biting her lower lip. “Perhaps one of these buildings will be just intact enough for us to climb up, or maybe a hill somewhere on the other side of the ruins. Anything that could give us a vantage point.”

“Are we going exploring? Oh! Is this like one of those adventures in webnovels? We have to sign up at a guild right? Get a rank like copper or porcelain, accept quests and make our way through the world on the path to becoming the great heroins…”

“And what, pray tell, makes you think we’re in an isekai?” Kaede cut across Yui’s bubbly ramblings. I snorted gently in a half failed attempt to cover my laughter. Kaede shot me a derisive glance, but continued to glower down at Yui, arms on her hips.

“Well...I...the air smells too clean?” Yui stuttered out, bringing her hands back in front of her face. The thick sleeves of her winter uniform sweater were gripped in her palms, ready to be pressed over her eyes. I felt my heart skip a beat again. She’s too good at this moe act I thought. I instinctively wanted to reach out and wrap her tiny frame in a protective hug.

“Of all...so the hundred meter trees, the infinite stars above us and the thousand year old buildings aren’t the reasons you’d think we are no longer in Japan? It’s the air?”

“You noticed that about the buildings too?” I posed the question to a flabbergasted Kaede. She turned to me and spluttered. Clearly her train of thought was not prepared for a serious question. She straightened up and cleared her throat.

“Mmm...well yes I did. The rubble from the buildings are all missing the materials you’d expect from anything built in the last hundred or so years,” she stated matter of factly. Her hand went back to her lip. “Normally I would disregard what Yui said without a second thought. However…” she trailed off, continuing to work her lip.

“You can’t be serious?”

“I’m always serious. One big problem is the stone used in these buildings,” she went on, walking towards a collapsed wall. I quickly stood up, pulling on Yui’s hand to bring her along. Following behind Kaede, I felt a distinct unease in my chest.

“It appears to be some sort of limestone. Or perhaps sandstone...either way, this sort of rock is not used in block form as a primary building material in this way except for a few regions of the world where it is easily accessible, since transporting large quantities like this would probably be a nightmare,” she stated, squeezing the bridge of her nose. Her eyes were shut tight, as if she was trying to remember a distant memory.

“What does that have to do with these?” Yui nudged a stone with her toe as she spoke.

“Well the areas of the world that would have access to limestone of this quality, that could be used in masonry without needing to be ground down and used in cement are heavily populated first world countries. Like Germany, Britain or the U.S. I don’t know how many areas in those countries would have terrain this flat, weather this mild, abundant limestone close enough to be a logistically plausible building material, but not have some form of light pollution,” Kaede continued unabated.

How does she remember this type of stuff? She’s always been a bookworm. Studies too hard, top scores in our year, intrigued by what most people would consider trivial information. A real history buff, obsessed with physics and chemistry, a math whizz, and fascinated by sociology and psychology. Not much of a runner I mused to myself.

“Light pollution?” Yui sounded confused. “How does light cause pollution? Does it hurt the environment? Is it like oil? Are we not going to have sushi cuz of the lights?” Had this been anyone else it would have come across as mocking.

“No Yui, it just means the glow you can see in the air from all the lights in a city like Tokyo,” I said calmly, squeezing her hand. She blushed as the silliness of her own question hit her.

“R...right. Of course. I knew that hehe,” she gave a small smile, poking her tongue out ever so slightly. Kaede gave an oddly deep, almost hungry sounding chuckle. I looked over in time to see her recovering from her obvious show of love for Yui. How could anyone hate our little genki girl? She never meant harm, she just let her thoughts run wild without stopping to think if they made sense at times.

“Anyways,” Kaede said, eyeing Yui skeptically, “this towns’ situation just doesn’t make sense…”

“Unless we’re in another world?” I finished for her, disbelief and scorn underpinning the words. This sounded ridiculous. However active my imagination could be, that was just not a reality I would buy easily.

“Yes...well...I want to take a look around for that reason. It already doesn’t make sense that we’re in such an odd place when minutes ago we were about to get run over by truck-kun, as I believe the Americans call it.” I giggled at that. She wasn’t even all that interested in anime, but leave it to Kaede to know how another country views our products.

Kaede was not the type to give in to the hype train, or let herself get worked up about something without reason. She had already thought through how unlikely the buildings around us were. Thinking about it now, while Yui and I were still gawking at the redwoods, she had made note of their existence and proceeded to view the rest of the world around us. Knowing her, she had been running it all through her head, looking for any plausible explanation to our surroundings. I hated to admit it, but if she was unsure and had begun contemplating if we’d been isekai’d...I simply nodded and steeled my resolve against the coming events.