You can ignore this as one of my random bursts of motivation for something strange if you want since my focus will be on Fate/Shadows. IF you do read, know that I'm starving for some feedback when I try something new.
It was a pleasant morning.
After a quiet little shower, the rain clouds had floated away, or dispersed, whatever it was that clouds did. I always found science class to be rather boring. The first rays of the morning sun had broken over the horizon by the time I reached home after my morning run, and long shadows reached from the home across from mine, sort of confirming that the old lady over was really a demon in hiding like I'd always suspected her to be.
The sidewalk was still wet, and the outer gate groaned a little as I pushed it aside and stepped onto the still-wet grass my mom had dutifully looked after until her passing. My dad tried, but God knew our suburban house desperately needed a woman's touch. There was dust collecting on the gabled roof, one of the second floor windows was marred from the inside by some unknown liquid, and the grass had grown out again.
The shrivelled tree in the corner had died last year but no one really bothered to remove the hardy carcass from the premises. It'd even grown on me a little, specifically the ants that I often found marching around it defensively.
"Guess that's what I'll do today." I hummed to myself, taking a gulp from my water bottle. "After I'm done training though."
My first go at life, I'd never really paid attention to taking care of myself, content to drown myself in media to drive away the strangeness of a broken household and the oppressive monotony of a life where your future was most definitely screwed if the world leaders kept going about ruling like they did.
Like most teens, I also promised myself that I would do my utmost if I were to have a second chance in some fantasy world. I did get the second chance after a mugger went too far, but no fantasy world, sadly. Still, I kept to my promise, and trained each day like I was going to die the next, dipping into every hobby and useless skill I found, even made all the right investments I could manage with my meagre allowance... Everything except studying properly.
Fuck, I hated studying so much.
No cheat showed up though.
Seriously, nothing fantastic really happened at all.
At some point, I grew irrationally strong, like super irrationally, as if some limit had finally been crossed, but that was about it. No point in being strong if there was nothing to test it out against.
I shook my head.
I had pondered over this too many times. T'was a useless effort, but an often enough occurrence considering how much time in my hands I wound up with.
Finding the key in my trousers, I opened the door and stepped inside as quietly as possible. Then, I gently took off my running shoes to stack them on the shoe rack with a slight smile about how the words rhymed.
My efforts were for naught.
"Oh hey Masao, you're back."
Dad stuck his head out in the corridor, far more energetic than a man his age should have been at the time of day... morning. He closed his eyes, and gave a smile.
"Why couldn't you name me something cool like Julius?"
He pursed his lips, furrowing his brow in thought, "That still hasn't passed? I think you're too old for chuunibyou."
Before I could retort, he let out a snicker and dipped. Sighing to myself, I made my way up the stairs and into my room.
The place was barebones.
A single bed stacked neatly under the open window with a study table right beside it that hadn't seen any use since the day it came in. The wall above it had pictures of mini-me and my parents pasted on it.
Tossing my clothes on the floor, I crossed the corridor into the bathroom, taking special care to be gentle with every item. A couple of minutes later, I went downstairs in a simple gray tee, comfy linen shorts and a pair of slippers.
By then, the faint yet delectable scent of pancakes and morning coffee had begun to drift through the house like a siren in search of a victim. I folded with no resistance, letting it drag me through the white walls of the corridor and into our living room. My father was busy setting up the table, and the TV was on the same strange news channel he liked to watch.
I didn't get the point of watching news, not like you could actually change anything. The one time I tried paying attention, I could remember something about a bombing in some obscure nation when going to sleep but not what I'd had for breakfast for that day.
So... needless stress.
Taking a chair beside the head of the oval table, I jutted my thumb at the TV beside me.
"You think maybe the stress from that is what made you bald, dad?"
He looked over from the kitchenette with a playful frown.
"...I still have hair." He let go of the pan to tug at the pitiful remains of a once glorious head of hair, "See? Here it is."
I chuckled faintly, "Let it go at this point."
"No, no. The new treatment is doing wonders."
I stared at the man in silence.
Truth be told, I was extremely grateful he wasn't the type to drown himself in drink after losing his wife, or to set super high standards. The day my mother died, he'd come to me, and told me to enjoy my life however I wanted, that he would be happy with me so long as I was happy with myself.
I hadn't understood what he meant for a long time.
When I finally did, I simply could not forget those words.
That support was probably why I'd never turned to crimes or drugs to alleviate the rather constant boredom that had recently started creeping into my days.
"Hey, why aren't you saying anything? It really is coming in! Look, I didn't have hair here before!"
I chuckled, "Whatever floats your boat, dad."
"You know what? You're making breakfast for the next week."
The grown man let out a huff. Oh, he even crossed his arms for it. Sadly, I did have to mess with his powerplay. I raised a hand to point at the chores schedule on the refrigerator, but decided against it halfway through... it would be way funnier when he noticed by himself.
-
Since it was a hot summer day, I retreated to my room for the day after mowing the lawn. There was nothing to do. For a moment, I thought about turning on the PC lying in a sad little corner of my room, but didn't really feel like playing anything. There wasn't really a huge selection of games in the late 2000s, at least, nothing that could properly hold the attention of my rotten brain.
Kuoh Town wasn't all that big either, and there wasn't really any place I hadn't trained at except for that weird rich girl's school.
I was imagining fighting dragons and firing off cool spells when I noticed the room darken. There was a sort of... pull to the air. When I looked over, that pull became a proper crack in reality. I didn't know how to explain it.
It felt like I was looking at a depthless space and a wall at the same time. There was no sense of distance or direction either.
It spewed a small white furball then promptly closed right back up. I was left rubbing my eyes, blinking constantly in an attempt to understand what had just transpired. That lasted barely a second before the ball started... moving.
"Ow... Ow... Ow...! What a rude dragon, that was! Is that how you treat guests, do you?"
A feminine voice and the ball opened into... a small white rabbit that stood on its hind legs like a human. It wore a victorian coat, all puffed up, and a tiny blue hat fixed with a armless clock. Two tall ears extended from either side of the funny hat. It fixed its beady red eyes on me just as I narrowed mine.
Considering I'd already reincarnated, instead of confusion, it became a struggle to hold back the excitement that came rushing into my being like a raging sea at the sight.
Something fantastical, finally!
A talking rabbit!
"What a sleazy look, that is. But, I am glad, I am! I was so sure I'd messed up the co-ordinates. Are you Masao?"
Seeing the chance, I took it without hesitation.
"...Julius."
The rabbit's left ear twitched. It-... She reached into her coat and pulled out a tiny notepad. She looked it over, then scanned me from head to toe. Before I could feel good about finally having a different name, the rabbit spoke again.
"It says Masao here." She held the notepad out to me. There was a clear cut picture of me, alongside some details like age, height and weight. "But, I will change it, to be sure. Your name is what you wish it to be. Master-sir!"
Her long white ears drooped apologetically, "I'm sorry it took so long to find you, I am! I got lost on the way! I should have found you years ago..."
"Doesn't matter. You're here now."
Better late than never.
"Ooh! A good attitude, that is!" She clapped her hands together excitedly, "Now, now allow me to give you your stats as a traveller-"
One of her beady red eyes gleamed like some precious stone, then her expression froze. I did not quite understand how she had one to begin with, but the little rabbit froze in place.
"A-Are my eyes broken?"
"Are they?"
"But this doesn't make sense. Not at all!" She rubbed her head, "All your stats are... unknowable? Broken? How can that be? My eyes aren't working. That must be it... I've never seen-"
"That doesn't matter. Can I finally fight a dragon? You said traveller? Can you take me to a world like that?"
"Why is your smile so sleazy, master-sir!?"
I pursed my lips.
"Yes-yes! But why travel for that? There are already dragons in this world, there are."
"...What?"
"This is Draconic Deus. You are in Kuoh Town. Do you not know where you are?"
...
...
"How do you not know already, master-sir? This can not be luck, no it can not. Did you not encounter any of the super-supernatural? This should have been present in the popular media where you are from, it should have! High School DxD, I believe it?"
"Wut?"
I fell on my back and held my head with both hands, spiralling.
"How the hell was I supposed to know the name of some town from that shitty anime? I mean, I like boobs as much as the next guy but come on, at some point it gets annoying when that's all there is! Should I have paid more attention anyway?"
I rolled around groaning.
The talking rabbit was out of sight but she surely must have been nodding her head up and down in vehement agreement.
"I get you, I do... but... ehh?"
"E-Even if I did, it wouldn't have mattered much. My memory's shit, I barely even remembered Apple and Microsoft in time."
"It's not your fault, master-sir!"
-
Hope u enjoyed.
Feedback is integral to me rn since I'm trying something new, so please gib if you have any.