Chapter 2 - Meeting of the Misfits

Sprawled out on his bed, the young man stared at his phone. He looked at the new chatting app that had installed itself on his phone without even asking permission. Although he didn't want to admit it, the intrusive chatting app had a very sleek design and a simple user interface. It was perfect… except for the fact that he was the only one in the group, and he found no option to join other groups. He also checked through some of the settings and noticed that the app was noted as 'Version 1'.

Next, he looked at the [Group Admin] tag next to the username that had been automatically assigned to him and sighed. The username hurt his heart and stabbed right at his weak point. Despite all that, he couldn't help feeling curious about the whole thing.

Another feature he discovered after tinkering around for a bit that he especially took notice of was a classic gacha-style check-in function with thirty squares marked with question mark logos. Since he had nothing else to do, he pressed the check-in button.

{Received 100 RP.}

{First time check-in! Congratulations! As a welcome gift, the monthly lottery ticket is upgraded to Platinum!}

{Received a platinum lottery ticket. Item sent to inventory.}

{Because you are the Group Admin, a bonus [Power Veins] was added to your inventory to better facilitate your Admin responsibilities.}

Raising a brow, he pressed on a bag icon at the bottom of the screen which now had a red circle with a '2' on the top right corner of it. After clicking the icon, he saw a game-like inventory screen with a blue science-fiction aesthetic. The screen contained several boxes, but only the first two showed anything. The first square displayed an animated icon of a shining platinum ticket waving like a flag in the wind. The second showed a human shaped diagram reminiscent of the nervous system.

Out of curiosity, he pressed on the ticket. A new dialogue box popped up on the screen describing its purpose and asking if he wanted to use it.

{Platinum Lottery Ticket - Unique Tier Multiverse Chat Group lottery ticket. Can only be obtained from high-difficulty mission rewards or special circumstances. It narrows down possible rewards by guaranteeing a skill or ability suited to the chat group member.}

{Use ticket?}

{Yes/No}

'Interesting. Will it really give me some sort of ability? It also implies missions of some sort. Should I use the ticket now, though?'

Before he could decide to press the 'Yes' option, another notification overshadowed it and drew his full attention. His eyes brightened with curiosity upon reading it, and he closed the inventory in order to see the main chat screen.

{Wizard of Regret and Redemption has joined the group.}

The young man raised a brow at the username.

"Maybe more people will join as time passes?" He theorized aloud to himself. Then, he decided to welcome the newcomer with a friendly message.

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Hello.]

He waited for almost five whole minutes before seeing a reply.

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Hello. Sorry. I am still trying to figure out how to use this artifact.]

"Hmm…"

The young man rubbed his chin while reading the reply. He wasn't sure what to think yet regarding this app, but the new member's reply led him to a few conclusions. While he was contemplating, another message from the newcomer popped up.

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Are you really a sage?]

"Ugh…"

The young man clutched the chest area of his robe due to the sudden sneak attack to his heart. However, he forced himself not to be rude and quickly entered a reply.

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [...In a manner of speaking, but I'd prefer not to claim the title.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Interesting. You are noted as a leader here. Did you create this artifact?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [No.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [I see. Do you know anything about it?]

Before the young man could answer, another notification appeared.

{Biri-biri-tsun-tsun has joined the group.}

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Another person? Interesting. It seems like aliases are assigned automatically. Is this one a lightning magic user?]

Raising a brow, Lonely Sage considered the wizard person's comment and instantly thought of a specific face and name that matched up with the username of the new member. Since the app assigned names automatically, he wondered if his crazy hypothesis could be legitimized. Even during his contemplations, he took a moment to assist the wizard member in welcoming the third person, though they did not respond. Then, two more notifications popped up back-to-back.

{Origami Master has joined the group.}

{Directionless First-Mate has joined the group.}

The young man's eyes widened briefly. Then, his eyes narrowed as he pursed his lips and rubbed his chin. Finally, he shook his head and sighed.

'It can't be… Am I thinking too much?' He wondered while greeting the other two newcomers shortly after Wizard did. Unfortunately, none of the new people replied right away, so he could only wait to confirm his suspicions about them. Meanwhile, the wizard person resumed the previous conversation.

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Sage-san, any thoughts on my previous question?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [I have a hypothesis about this group, but I'll keep it to myself until I confirm it.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [A very Sage-like reply.]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [...]

The young man cried inwardly and considered giving Wizard his actual name, but he eventually refrained so that he could continue to observe things anonymously for a bit longer. Luckily, one of the others said something to draw his attention.

Biri-biri-tsun-tsun: [What is this chat group? Which magician invited me? It's your fault I got chased for the last few minutes. You're dead meat if I find you irl.]

Outside the chat group, the hooded Wizard of Regret and Redemption stood next to his two female companions and helplessly scratched his head. Although he didn't understand a few words sent by the new person, he couldn't help thinking this third person seemed rather feisty.

In a similar manner, the group admin raised a brow at the girl's message and chuckled to himself. He waited for another rant with anticipation. The girl delivered almost immediately.

Biri-biri-tsun-tsun: [Wait a second! Who gave me this username? Was it you, Group Admin? Change it immediately!]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Usernames are assigned automatically by the chat group. If you don't like it, there should be an option to change it using the settings button in the top right corner.]

Biri-biri-tsun-tsun: [Ok. Thanks, old man. Wait a minute for me to change it.]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [T_T I'm only 18 in this life so far…]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [This life? Do you have some sort of reincarnation magic, Sage-san?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [No. Slip of the tongue. Please ignore it.]

"Accidentally mentioned it since I was too excited. Oh well. Doesn't really matter even if I tell them," Sage mumbled to himself.

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Suspicious.]

Origami Master: [Are you really a Sage?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Is everyone going to ask me this question? Well, if I'm right about your identity, then I can understand your curiosity. Please ignore my Sage title. It's nothing like what you would expect.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Welcome to the conversation, Origami Master-san. Also, Sage-san, your statement makes it seem like you know who all of us are?]

Due to the group admin's words about possibly knowing their identities, Origami Master and Wizard of Regret and Redemption both clenched the devices in their hands at almost the same time. They both waited for an answer.

On the young Sage's side, he facepalmed and wondered if he should just go ahead and change his title. After deciding to put that off for a bit longer, he pondered Wizard's question for a minute before deciding how to proceed.

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [I have suspicions, but maybe this is a good time to verify it. First, I'll introduce myself. My name is Hideyoshi Jin. Since you'll all find out at some point anyway, I'll start by saying that I'm probably the weakest person in this group combat-wise. Instead, you could say I know about a number of different worlds. You might not believe it, as even I don't quite believe it, but all of you should be from different worlds, or perhaps even dimensions, just as the chat group title says. At least, if my hypothesis is correct, that should be the case.]

"Hope this is fine. Then again, I may be putting the cart before the horse here if they're just normal people. Could play it off as roleplay if that's the case, I suppose."

Jin sent the message and waited for it to sink in for the four people. Well, the Directionless First Mate probably wouldn't care all that much, but the other three might take it seriously so long as they believed his words even a little bit. A few minutes later, somebody finally responded.

Esper King: [Is that the truth?]

"Pft! Why did you choose that name?! Bahahaha!" Jin exclaimed. Eventually, he calmed himself down enough to respond, though he couldn't stop chuckling occasionally.

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Probably. Are you in Academy City right now?]

Esper King: [Yes, but what's that got to do with anything?]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [I think I see where you are going with this. I don't know of any Academy City. Also, what is an Esper?]

Esper King: [What?! Are you messing with me right now, magician?!]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [@Wizard of Regret and Redemption, magicians in @Esper King's world are normally at odds with Espers like her. They are people with abilities generated by science rather than magic. Although your title is a little too vague for me to discern which world you are from, the way magic works there is probably very different from what this girl knows.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [I see. What about Directionless First-Mate-san and Origami Master-san?]

Esper King: [How did you know about me? Are you a stalker?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Their worlds are rather unique and don't have traditional magic. For example, @Origami Master, am I right in guessing you are from the Rain Village?]

Origami Master: [...Yes.]

Esper King: [Are you ignoring me?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [I honestly didn't expect you to answer me, Origami Master. I wasn't even one hundred percent sure if you were the person I was thinking of until now.]

Esper King: [You're ignoring me, aren't you?!]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [@Origami Master, you don't have to answer, but who is Hokage right now?]

Origami Master: [Hiruzen Sarutobi.]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Hmm. That narrows down your time frame a little, but not by much. Has the third Shinobi War already happened?]

Origami Master: [That was several years ago.]

Esper King: [Shinobi? You mean ninjas?]

Origami Master: [Yes.]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Is the Salamander still alive? Again, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I'm just trying to figure out your current time frame based on events since I don't know how the dates work in your world very well.]

Origami Master did not respond, which didn't surprise Jin at all. He probably wouldn't either if asked such a thing, yet he couldn't help his curiosity or excitement.

Esper King: [Old man, I think you scared Origami Master off. Did you hit a sore spot?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Don't worry about it. If this group continues, you'll figure it out sooner or later. Wizard, are you still there?]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Yes. I am a little intrigued by your conversation with Origami Master, but I am on the move right now. It is hard to participate in the conversation because of that. However, I am very curious about the fact that you seem to know a lot about Origami Master's world?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Oh? You already believe me? I thought I might have to spend a while convincing everyone, including myself, since even I find this hard to believe.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [There seems to be some truth in everything you have said. Do you happen to know anything about my world?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Your username is too vague and fits several people I know of from various worlds. What country are you in? That might narrow it down for me.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Alvarez.]

Jin raised a brow. Just that one word narrowed down his options a lot, but within that world, there were still a number of people who fit Wizard's username.

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [The Spriggan 12 are in that country, right?]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Yes.]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Many magicians fit the bill of regret and redemption in your world, especially when it comes to events caused by Fairy Tail, but one person stands out to me in particular.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [You have guessed my identity?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Tower of Heaven?]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [I believe you now.]

Esper King: [I still feel like you are pranking me, old man. Do you know who I am, then?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Railgun.]

Esper King: [What the heck?! Why didn't you ask me questions first? And how do you even know in the first place?]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Well, your username was a bit obvious, to be honest. Also, everyone should feel free to remain more anonymous for the time being if you aren't comfortable, though I apologize if I overstepped a bit with my questions and and statements due to my curiosity. I just introduced myself by name since, like my username says, I'm probably a bit lonely. None of your histories really bother me, so I hope we can take care of each other in the future.]

Origami Master: [...So you know me.]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Like I said, I am an observer. I know many people and places. Anyway, I'm somewhat glad this group came out of nowhere. Makes it feel like I've found other misfits to talk to. It's nice to meet you all.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Likewise.]

Esper King: [You really sound like an old man. You're all suspicious. I'll be watching you.]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Esper King… I don't know why you gave yourself that name, but you may as well change it to Railgun.]

Esper King: [...]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [Oh, one more thing, you should all do the check-in at the bottom of the screen. Also, just a suggestion, but how about we open the tickets at the same time just in case anything unexpected happens?]

Esper King: [Check-in? Is this a money-grubbing mobile game? Are you AI?]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [I'll go along with that.]

Origami Master: [Fine.]

Bored Soul of a Lonely Sage: [I'll be going to bed now. Talk to you all tomorrow.]

Directionless First Mate: [What this? Did this right?]

"Pft! Didn't expect that."