A Distant World

All I wanted was a happy, normal life filled with joy and excitement.

I would repeat those words everytime I went to bed at night. I would always picture what my future might look like when I was a kid. A life filled with excitement and wonder. A life full of joy. A life full of love.

That life was merely nothing but a fantasy. Not even I myself could change it into something meaningful.

Hi, my name is Hiro Satomi. I'm living a college life filled with the exact opposite that you would expect. Stress, boredom, and anxiety. Honestly, why the hell did I apply for college in the first place? I would ask myself that question everytime I walked to the university. Well, at least doing this made my parents happy. They've always wanted me to get into the University of Tokyo. It was in the big city sure, but they wanted me to experience life in a huge city. I've always lived out in the countryside and never got to experience anything like this. However, living in the city wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be. It was overwhelming, as expected, but it was also a little depressing. I guess the change in scenery wasn't something that I needed.

I wish I could change my life. If it were up to me, I'd want to try to live a life full of excitement and adventure. I'd go back in time and redo my pitiful excuse for a life. Something that I didn't anticipate, however, was that I was given that chance a lot sooner than I expected.

It was a cold morning in the middle of November. Walking to the university was like walking into my own funeral. That was how much I hated it. However, I knew I just had to push through it and get a good job. My parents were counting on me. I got to the entrance but I suddenly stopped dead at my tracks. I didn't see anything strange but I felt a weird chill crawling up my spine. I started to feel lightheaded. My vision started to get groggy, but I was more worried about my head than my eyes. This headache was indescribable. I've never experienced this much pain in my head ever. This pain could even rival a flu that I had a few months ago. My vision was to a point where I couldn't see anything at all. Nothing was visible. Nothing...except for a small glow of light. Wait, light? Was my vision coming back?

The light kept getting bigger and bigger. It was to the point where it was like looking directly at the sun. Maybe even brighter than that; so I closed my eyes to avoid going blind and just decided to wait until whatever it was faded away. Eventually, it started to fade. I could tell the light was fading from just staring at the inside of my eyelids. When the light was completely gone, I opened my eyes slowly. I was expecting to be standing at the entrance of the university, but my prediction was wrong. What I saw was a starry night sky...and a bright and colorful town.

I was standing right in the middle of it. I could see different kinds of people all around me, and when I say different kinds, literally mean DIFFERENT KINDS!

Some were regular looking, like me, but others were...AWESOME!!

I saw a couple of people with the tail of a lizard and sharp claws and a scaly face. Another one had sharp fangs and slick, black stripes across his bare chest. And I saw a other one that had ears...on their head? She also had a tail and...no way...a CAT

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The cat girl caught me staring and marched over to me with a stern look on her face. She look at me from top to bottom as if she was trying to scan me or something. I got a little nervous.

She was about a few inches shorter than me and she had light red eyes, light red hair, and her ears and tail were colored a blood red with black stripes. She had a petite figure and a cute little fang appearing out of the bottom of her lip.

She was incredibly cute, which made me even more nervous.

"Hey, you." the cat girl suddenly said.

"Uhh...yes." I responded awkwardly.

"Were you summoned?"

Summoned. What does that mean? Like, summoned into another world? Wait, now that I think about it, where exactly am I?

"You're in a place called 'The Town of Colors,'"the cat girl said as if reading my mind. "This place is where most people get summoned into."

The Town of Colors. Hmm…simple.

"Wait, are you saying that I just got teleported into another world?" I asked.

"Pretty much."

Why does she sound so nonchalant about it?

"I've met a couple of Summons in my life," she said. "This kind of ritual has been happening for decades. "

That made me feel down a little. I kinda wish me getting brought here was at least kinda special. I guess this isn't a bad thing though. Since this is considered a common occurrence, I'm probably not gonna end up being some knight in shining armor going out to save the world or anything from some almighty dragon or demon lord. That's a plus to me.

The cat girl suddenly started walking off and I quickly followed.

"So…were you summoned here to?" I asked as I caught up to her.

"Nah, I was born here," she said, crossing her arms behind her head. "I'm not as special as you are."

"Says the one with ears on the top of her head and a moving tail."

"Is that not normal in your world?"

"Unless it's used for a costume, a kink, or on an animal, then it's most definitely not normal."

"Your world sounds odd."

"I could say the same about yours."

As we walked, I made sure to take in all the sights, sounds, and scents around me. Every building and little structure was made of brick, wood, and steel with bright and colorful fires lit on tiny candles covered with glass that were strung up all over the place. They looked like Christmas lights. In the center of the town, there was a giant, three layer fountain with crystal clear water spewing out of three kettles that were held by what looked like angels on the bottom layer, two mouths of what looked like weird looking plants on the second layer, and from both hands of what looked like an angel on the top layer.

"I used to always sit by this fountain," the cat girl said. "The water flowing and splashing was always therapeutic for me."

I can see where she was coming from. Whenever I got really angry about something, I would just look at a sunset while eating an apple over the back porch of my parents house. That always put me in a good mood.

That's a little harder to do whenever you're living in a big city though…

"You ok?" The girl asked me.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "I just came from a depressing moment. I'm fine though, really."

"Hmm… Well, if you say so. Anyways, you should follow me."

"Follow you where?"

"To the palace. You're going to meet face to face with your summoner."