2 Monster

The curtains that were opened five minutes ago by my mom, presented rays upon my unconscious body. Another five minutes passed and it grew effective.

"Mhm..."

I slowly opened my eyes.

"Mom, just a few more minutes."

Why is it silent? She typically open the curtains around 6:30am. School begins at 7am. I consume 15 minutes to prepare, and another 10 minutes to walk. If she isn't in my room then that means she opened it minutes ago. 5 minutes...it needs to be prior 5 minutes. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and looked at my digital clock.

"6:40am...shit."

I banged my door opened and swiftly prepared for school.

[I am Kashiro Surotari. I'm 18, and a senior at highschool. I tend to maintain my sides and back hair short, whereas my top hair cover my sides and back. My hair color is black, and naturally my eye color is brown. I hardly workout, unless it's labor, so I have a typical highschool senior physique.]

I sighed with my toothbrush in my mouth.

"So average..."

I spat the toothpaste out, and washed my mouth. I wore my school uniform. Due to the time, I placed a slice of toasted bread in my mouth and decided to eat my light breakfast on my way to school.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you to school?"

"Nom nom nom nom(Too late for that)."

My mother tilted her head. I removed the toasted bread from my mouth.

"Ren and Arisu are waiting for me outside. I can feel it in my bones."

I placed the bread back into my mouth and opened the door to the sunny day. The sun rays directed at my eyes. To negate its visibility, I covered it with my palm. I altered my gaze from the sun to the two people standing before me.

"You're late, Kashiro."

[Ren, my male best friend since I started primary school. Birds of the same feather flock together. His hair, eye and body type were similar to mine, but his hairstyle and personality were vaguely different. He had unnecessarily long hair that reached his shoulders.]

"Jeez, Ren and I almost thought about ditching you, Kashiro."

[Arisu, friends of friends. She's Ren's girlfriend, and is in the same class as me. She has long golden blonde hair and eyelashes. She has blue eyes, and a slender body. A cheerful girl at the least.]

"Nom nom nom[Sorry for the delay]."

"Don't talk with food in your mouth."

Arisu lectured.

"Well, whatever. Let's go. Kashiro never says anything important, anyway. Take his narration for example."

We're what you call a comedy trio... we have the card that gives us consent to break the 4th wall, okay?

Well, that aside, we dashed to school. However, as every other story, a normal introduction like this tends to have a plot twist[Well, it's now a cliché because it's being used too often]. Without further ado, a magical circle appeared below us.

The bread fell from my mouth.

"Shit..."

I cursed.

"Now isn't the time to curse at your bread."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks for that accurate deduction, Ren! I was clearly cursing at the bread, and not the magical circle below us that's completely restraining us."

"It's doing a poor job, restraining everything other than that rowdy mouth of yours, he mumbled."

"Oi, Ren. You placed the quotation marks at the wrong spot! Unless you're intentionally saying it aloud, luring me into a fight? 'Ight 'ight, put 'em up!"

"You're the narrator, so it doesn't really matter where I put it, right?"

"There are boundaries...boundaries!"

A typical comedy fight between us. Arisu always stop us, but...

"Where is Arisu?" We asked in sync.

Immediately after asking that question, we vanished. More specifically, we teleported to a parallel universe. I just woke up, so naturally the transportation rendered me unconscious. This time I wasn't woken up by the sun's rays, the massive population of surrounding trees prevented that, instead I heard an ape ahoo-ing.

"Isekaiiiii! Isekaiiii!"

Oh, it's just Ren. Wait, what's the difference?

"Ren, there's a place and time for this. Now isn't the..."

"Boobs, Kashiro, boobs."

"Huh? Let me finish talking. I don't care what you want to sa-"

"Harem, Kashiro, harem. This a blessing. Stop worrying like an ape."

No, you're the ape here. I sighed at his stupidity. Is boobs and harem all he can think of? Hm...boobs? Oh...

"Shouldn't you be thinking about your girlfriend?"

"Oh right! Where is she? Arisu!!"

"Probably caught in a booby trap."

The disadvantage of having boobs. Mental salute to you girls.

I switched to my serious demeanor and left this ape to its jungle. I searched the forest. I found arrow marks on a row of trees, which obviously led to the same direction. I followed it for approximately 5 minutes and approached a rusty house.

I smelt a stench, and knew it only meant bad news. Being teleported to a foreign world is already bad news, so things can't really get worse, right? I'm actually surprised as of how calm I'm being, and cheerful Ren is. I guess after watching hundreds of isekai animes, we have indirectly adapted to such an environment.

I opened the door, and immediately covered my mouth from barfing.

A corpse!? A corpse!? It looks really gross in person.

I shook my head horizontally, and removed my hand from my mouth.

Now is not the time to panick. I tried calming myself down. I ultimately concluded that the best option would be to direct my attention at something else, thus I investigated the place.

Ren or these buzzing flies...which is more annoying? On par, I'd say. That's why I'm not really bothered by the flies surrounding and buzzing by the corpse.

I finished my search, and other than the bed which had nothing hidden, there was a map in a nearby drawer. In another lied a suicide note. As far as I've deduced, this man bought the map which gave directions from his hometown to this specific establishment. The question is: why? Because of danger, and at the loss of his loved ones, despite surviving, he ultimately committed suicide? This scenario takes monsters into account, but considering that is void...his wife divorced him? Hmm... I reluctantly searched the corpse and found a ring in his pocket. If it was on his finger, it would've been the former, but apparently it's the latter. Which means that monsters are still not a possibility.

Anyway, now that I've found out that the town indicated on the map isn't dangerous, we ought to go there.

I sharpened my senses, and directed my attention towards the door while I swiftly grabbed the knife from the man's hand. The door rocked, and opened after a few seconds. I immediately pointed the knife towards the intruder.

"Calm down, Kashiro. It's me, Ren. Don't tell me you've lost your mind yet. It's me, Ren. REN. REN."

"Well, you'll understand once you gaze upon your first corpse."

"Not really. There's something going on in this forest. While I was picking up some materials, I found dead animals, monsters, and some humans."

"Huh? First of all, what and why materials? Second and last of all, why are you already introducing monsters?"

"Well, I didn't pick science for nothing. It's my hobby. I think that dead man can relate."

Ren was referring to the lab coat that the corpse wore. A scientist? Does it have to do with the dead monsters and animals?

"By the way, Ren. How does the monsters look?"

"The smallest one I've seen kind of looks like a bear. Basically, they're gigantic."

I slightly opened my mouth, but no words came out. I decided not to mention everything I've deduced thus far. Ren was telling me all of this with a grin on his face. As much as I hate to say this, but I think it'll be best to make use of his cheerfulness and love for an isekai filled with blessings and OP skills.

I once again gazed upon the corpse before making a decision.

"Ren. I found a map that leads to a town. Let's go there."

"Arisu might have been killed by a monster in this forest. What you are suggesting is irrelevant."

He's, unusually, using big words. Is he angry? Let's dig deeper.

"She didn't teleport with us, so what makes you think she's even in the same forest?"

I sighed, and continued to lecture him:

"Like I said, there's a place and time for everything. Don't let your feelings and unsure thoughts cloud your judgement. We're going to this town whe-"

"You wouldn't understand because your girl is long dead!!!"

I was disrupted, but didn't point it out nor continue my sentence. I simply bit my bottom lip and clenched my fists. I'm thinking irrationally because I'm thinking too much. It's a fantasy world, so I'm thinking outside of the box. I made this my current mindset, but now I'm subconsciously doing the same for everything that Ren is saying. I would've brushed off everything he said as him being silly like I always do, but this time I asked myself:

"Are you being serious, Ren?"

Like always, he's subconsciously picking a fight, but Arisu isn't here to stop it. Even with a clear conscience, after what he said, I won't leave without a fight!

I dropped the map, and he dropped his materials. We both glared at one another while clenching our fists, tighter as our disgust and hatred grew.

[The house of that scientist. The scientist who I deduced was experimenting on monsters, have superficially created an atmosphere in this house that arouses the monster in us, humans, that set foot in his domain.]