Chapter 8: First Meeting
Seeing the 5 people reflected on the screens in front of him, Ryuichi couldn't help but think about how diverse this group was.
A survivor with a childish attitude, the princess of some magical kingdom, a clearly aggressive maid, an even more aggressive blonde who could or not have a risky job, and wait! Those were cat ears?!
Ryuichi shook his head a few times, being surprised by something like that at this point would be silly, so he decided to ignore it and continued looking at the others.
An unknown subject with his eyes closed, and Ryuichi was sure that when he opened them, the things would get serious.
And in the end, there was him, a reincarnated person trying to juggle to prevent any of the above-mentioned from targeting his life directly.
"What do you mean we live in different worlds?" Rude Big Sis asked with a deadly serious tone.
"Before you answer". Greedy Heir interrupted while raising his hand. "Why are you the only one we can't see?" He asked, and instantly Ryuichi could see how the other 4 members seemed more attentive.
'Tch, I hoped that by dropping a bomb of information they would overlook that detail at least until everything was clarified, but with this, I would have to be careful with what I say on that topic'
"Well, you could say it's a security measure, it's pretty obvious that all or almost all of you think that I'm some unscrupulous guy who wants something from you and can harm you, and I don't blame you for thinking that way, but the thing is that my situation is basically the same as that of all of you, I was dragged into this without a real possibility to refuse, and although I planned to reveal my face after everything was explained, and I was assured that you understood that I do not wish to conflict with none of you, now that you mentioned it I think I have no choice if I want you to at least give me the benefit of the doubt". He finished explaining and was about to select the option to switch to the front camera.
But at that moment the door to his room opened, and a small figure entered.
"Brother, I already decided what movies I want to see". His little brother said while holding up a paper with several words crossed out.
"T!" The words of alarm were interrupted when a severe headache hit Ryuichi, making him fall to his knees as his hands placed on his temples and he hunched over.
Touji, being a child, was scared by the scene and took a step back before reacting and approaching as fast as he could. "Brother! What's happening?!"
Ryuichi gritted his teeth trying to endure the pain, deep down he heard the voices of some of the chat members, but due to the pain he didn't understand anything they were saying, and after a couple more seconds, which to him felt like more like minutes, the punishment was over, and the pain disappeared without a trace.
"Brother! Brother!" Touji's voice shook as his hands lightly shook his brother's back in search of answers.
Even kneeling and with his face hidden from the little boy's view, Ryuichi's expression showed a myriad of emotions, such as confusion or frustration, but the most obvious was fear.
It was obvious to him that this sudden headache was not natural or coincidental in the slightest, and when a red square appeared in front of him, his fears were confirmed.
NO ONE BESIDES THE MEMBERS CAN SEE OR FEEL THE EXISTENCE OF THE CHAT, AND ITS EXISTENCE CANT BE REVEALED TO ANYONE IF TWO OR MORE MEMBERS ARE NOT PRESENT AND AGREE, AN ATTEMPT TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN A PENALTY
For a few seconds, neither Ryuichi nor any of the chat members said anything, until he finally raised his head to see his brother and spoke. "I…don't worry, this". He paused before continuing. "It's because of this injury". He lied, taking off his cap and lifting his bangs to show the bandage still stuck to his forehead. "A couple of days ago I hit my head, and since then it has been hurting from time to time"
"B-but brother, it looked like it was hurting you a lot". The boy asked with small hints of tears in the corners of his eyes.
"Yes, bumps on the head are dangerous, but don't worry, I'll go to a pharmacy for some medicine, and I'll also make sure to visit a doctor"
"Oh really?" Touji asked, hoping that his brother would take good care of his health.
"Yes, what's more, I'll go to the pharmacy right now, you go to your room and get ready for the night, I haven't forgotten the promise I made you". Ryuichi forced a smile on his face, and after a bit of hesitation, Touji left the room.
Once the door to his room closed Ryuichi inhaled and exhaled a couple of times before removing his mask, revealing his face, and returned his gaze to the box where all the members were looking with different expressions.
He closed his eyes, squashed his cheeks to reaffirm his resolve, and tapped the option to switch to the front camera, showing himself to the other members of the chat.
"Did what just happened to me happen to anyone else? Or am I the only one?" He asked with a serious expression.
None of the chat members flinched under the young man's gaze, and in the end, the first to respond was Greedy Heir.
"It happened to me too, when this box appeared and everyone ignored it, I tried to point out its existence and received the same punishment". He explained as he crossed his arms.
"The same happened to me". Unfortunate Princess added as she raised her hand. "My guards were unable to see this box, and when I intended to mention it a severe headache prevented me from doing so, and then a red box with the same warning words they gave you appeared in front of me"
After her, Maid with Survivor Syndrome added her version too, although she did so reluctantly and in the shortest way possible. "I also experienced something similar"
And after those confirmations, Ryuichi looked at the last 2 members. "Namekata-san, Miss Blonde, did you also experience this?"
The blonde girl snorted before speaking. "Leone, my name is Leone, and I haven't spoken to anyone since this thing appeared"
"I haven't seen anyone, Ryu, and you can call me Kyu-chan". Kyujin added with a disinterested tone.
'Wow, nicknames? Well, that means I'm on his good side, right?' Ryuichi thought before speaking.
"Alright Leone-san, and… Kyu-chan, god, that sounded weird, can I just call you Kyujin?" He asked hoping the strange guy would agree.
"Sure". Kyujin responded without being bothered by the request.
"So, since you and Leone-san haven't experienced it, I think you shouldn't try to tell anyone if you see everyone around you ignoring this box, this "penalty" is not pleasant at all". Ryuichi advised before moving on to the most important thing that would be covered in this call.
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"Now, the most important point, the fact that we all, or at least most of us, are from different worlds". I started and focused on the expressions of the other members.
The clearest was Unfortunate Princess, showing clear intrigue mixed with caution and some fear, followed by Maid with Survivor Syndrome which showed distrust and doubt.
Following them was Kyujin, who although he had a somewhat relaxed look, I could see that he was incredibly attentive to my words.
And at the end were Leone-san and Greedy Heir, the former showing skepticism towards my words, although her expression remained sharp.
But Greedy Heir was the one that stood out to me the most because I couldn't read him at all, his expression remained serious for almost the entire duration of this call, so it was incredibly difficult to know what he was thinking.
"Most of the things I could say probably won't convince almost any of you, so I'll use facts instead of words". I said as I took the mask back to cover my nose and mouth.
"What are you doing?" Unfortunate Princess asked.
"I'm going to go out into the street, and all of you will see what Japan is like through my screen, that should convince at least some of you that the place where I am is unlike anything you've ever seen, or in Kyujin's case, should prove him that my world or, at least, my version of Japan has not suffered any attack". I explained before putting on some small wireless headphones to make it look like I was on a call.
That would help prevent anyone from taking me for a crazy person who was talking to himself.
"Well, with this, if someone notices me, they won't find it strange that I talk to myself, I will change the screen so you can see what I have in front of me, if you have any questions, just ask, I will answer the best I can"
With that said, I changed the camera view and got out of bed to leave my room, passing Touji's room on my way, I knocked on the door a couple of times and spoke. "I'll go out for a moment, please don't open the door to anyone"
The door opened a little and Touji showed his face still covered by the glasses, the cap, and the mask, he gave me a short. "OK". And before I walked away, I caressed his head over the cap.
"Don't worry, I'm sure the headaches won't bother me again". I said in a cheerful tone, getting a more cheerful nod from my little brother before he closed his door again.
"Why does your brother have his face covered?" Leone asked.
"For the same reason I did it at the beginning of this call, protection, the same way you don't trust me, I don't fully trust any of you either, I want to keep my brother out of this as much as possible, he's just an ordinary child who needs nothing more than to live a normal life". I said in a forceful tone, and no one responded anything to this.
Leaving my apartment on the fourth floor of the building, I looked at the street and saw people walking without any apparent concern, and to be completely honest, I felt a little envious.
"Kuoh is a pretty quiet place, in all the time I've lived here I haven't seen anything too strange until a person literally came out of a glowing circle on my floor". I counted after going down the stairs and while walking through the streets until I reached a small park where several children were playing, showing that there wasn't a sign of any attack.
"Is magic not common in your country?" Unfortunate Princess asked.
"Magic doesn't exist in my world, oh at least that's what I thought until yesterday, does anyone else know about magic or does it exist in any of your worlds?" I asked the others, and although the "princess" expression seemed skeptical, her eyes showed surprise when the others responded.
"Magic does not exist"
"Those are just stories for children"
"I've only seen magicians who make rabbits appear in their hats at children's parties"
The purple-haired girl seemed incredulous, and even a little offended by the answers until the last member gave hers.
"Of course the magic exists". The "maid" said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Do you know anyone who can use magic or have you seen someone do it?" I asked to confirm, and the girl responded by raising a hand and whispering a word I couldn't hear before a stake of ice materialized floating there a few inches from her hand.
"That is-!" The first to show a reaction was Leone-san, who, for the first time, seemed genuinely surprised.
"Wandless magic? H-how is that possible?" The princess joined in the surprise by revealing an interesting fact about the way that magic works in her world.
Kyujin seemed a little excited, and I could see a small smile appear on Greedy Heir's face.
"So if what I saw yesterday really was magic that would mean that at least 3 of our worlds have that characteristic, do any of the rest have a similar characteristic in your world? Like some kind of special ability?"
"Ah, I can use this" And just as I expected, Kyujin was the first to speak, raising his fist, which seemed to be covered with a kind of multicolored aura. "It's not magic, that's for sure, according to my sensei it's something similar to controlling one's life force, something like chi or qi gong, only more developed". He explained as he calmly walked across what looked like the floor of some abandoned building, then he approached a concrete column and launched an enthusiastic punch, destroying it as easily as if it were made of fragile Lego blocks.
I unconsciously swallowed while smiling out of nervousness, I didn't even want to imagine what would happen to an ordinary person's body if they received a blow with a power like that.
I couldn't help but wonder what kind of dangerous situation I had ended up getting myself into.
"Heh, how is it?" Kyujin said smiling with a bit of arrogance.
X-X-X-X
Ryuichi is just starting and is already feeling a little overwhelmed, imagine if he found out the power of the "bad" heavyweights in each verse?
People like Sekka, Esdeath (manga version), the ancient dragon, Father, or the Witch of Envy, and that's not counting all the monsters that live in the world in which he finds himself.
By the way, how strong do you think Satella/the Witch of Envy would be compared to the strongest in DXD?
And these are the characters that were on my initial list and were not chosen to be part of the chat:
Suiryu - The Arrogant Genius - (One Punch Man)
Charlotte Dunois - Reverse Trap - (Infinite Stratos)
Ranpo Edogawa - Super deduction - (Bungou Stray Dogs)
Xiao Ning'er - Wind Lightning - (Tales of Demons and Gods)
Gojo Satoru - The Honored One - (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Liu Xuelan - Untouchable Assassin - (Darwin's Game)
Chrome - Rookie Scientist - (Dr. Stone)
Yui Kurata - Sleeping Beauty - (Trinity Seven)
Accelerator - One Way Road - (To Aru Series)
Karin Yuuki - The Traitor - (Uq Holder)
Mirio Togata - Lemillion - (My Hero Academia)
Oboro Shintō - God Blade - (Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san)
Jack Sparrow - The Best Pirate Ever - (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Kwon Ji-Nie - Martial Artist - (The Breaker)
Arthur Boyle - The Knight King - (Fire Force)
Fremy Speeddraw - Dark Flower - (Rokka no Yuusha)
Roboute Guilliman - Avenging Son - (Warhammer40k)
Keeno Fasris Inberun - Evileye - (Overlord)
That's all for today's chapter, I'll be posting a chapter on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays this week and maybe next week too.
Remember that if you like this story, you can leave a comment, review, or a power stone, that will inspire me to write more, see you in the next chapter.