In Another World 1

-Naoko-

"I'm home!" Her son arrived at their house, and naturally she greeted him with a smile.

"Welcome back." 

She looked at her boy who was smiling happily, an expression that she hasn't seen for quite some time now.

As a mother she naturally knew the changes in her baby boy, it's some kind of maternal instinct that she would immediately know what her son's feeling.

Right now he was genuinely happy, it was very different compared to weeks ago.

Before this change happened, her son was always moody, sad and depressed. He would always avoid her and her husband.

Rarely talks to them or leaves his room, and when he does, he would always avoid looking them in the eyes as if he felt inferior to them.

Which was clearly nonsense!

He doesn't need to feel inferior to them, he was their son. They would accept him regardless of what he does because that's what a parent does.

However despite her efforts to make him break the shell of that inferiority complex, it didn't succeed at all. Instead it became worse than before that's why she decided to let it be because she's afraid of making it even worse.

That's why for the past year, she would always feel miserable because she can't do anything to help her son overcome his problems.

Even her husband can't do anything about it, and in that very year the dynamic of the Natsuki family changed.

They rarely have a conversation as a family and even if they did there's always this heavy atmosphere in the air that was lingering when they would have a talk.

It was almost unbearable, she hated it. All she wanted was for the good times to be back, where they would smile, laugh and have fun together.

If she could take it back, then she would, however it was impossible when her son won't even listen.

She thought that those days were over for good, and she could only move forward to an unknown, yet sad future where their family would remain tense and awkward with each other's presence.

Yet, something happened. One day a seemingly ordinary day where her son told her that he wanted to go out to buy something, to which she agreed as it was rare for him to go out nowadays.

Then her son didn't come back for hours, and that made her start to worry. After all, her son wasn't the type to stay outside for a long time.

And as the time passed, it was already night, making her extremely worried about her as every second of waiting for him was getting unbearable to the point that she seriously considered calling the cops.

Then terrible scenarios started to appear in her mind, as she started at the clock.

What if her son was kidnapped..?!

Or perhaps he secretly wanted to run away from home and now he left!

Various scenarios appeared one by one inside her head and each one was making her anxious.

And when she couldn't finally bear waiting, she went to the telephone and was about to call for the police to search for her son.

Suddenly her son arrived back home, making her sigh in great relief and next she became angry at her son's lateness , making her worry for him!

Naoko was about to give him the scolding for his life, however something stopped her from doing so, it was her son's expression.

It was the look of shock, disbelief and excitement..? If she read his emotions correctly.

Anyway, from the looks of it her son didn't seem to register her like he was thinking about something far away.

Seeing this new expression of her son, she couldn't help but ask with concern. "Son? Are you alright?"

Her words make him snap out of it and realizing that she was here, her son blinked a couple of times. "O-oh, sorry mom I was lost in thought..but I'm alright I guess?"

"Why are you saying it as a question?"

"No, nevermind that I'm perfectly fine..it's just I need some time to gather my thoughts. I'll go back to my room." 

"Wait-"

Her son thoughtlessly went back to his room without listening to her words, making her concerned and her earlier anger was nowhere to be seen as it had already been drained.

And that day was the mark of change for her son, everyday his son was changing, no more like he reverted back to his original self.

A since then, it's been a few weeks since that fateful day and her son was back to his old self, his smile was now genuine, happy and brimmed with excitement for what to come.

Although she doesn't know what happened to her son a few weeks ago, at this point she couldn't care less, as she was grateful for whatever reason her son reverted back to his old self.

Since that fateful day, their family was slowly but surely going back to what it was, where everyday was a happy time.

The atmosphere whenever they talk wasn't as awkward as before, if this pace continues it wouldn't be long for them to be back as a happy family like before.

Her son then suddenly started talking about a friend named Kirito, a weird name however it hardly matters because her son got a friend!

For a long time she hasn't heard the word 'friend' from her son's mouth, and from the looks of it her son doesn't just have one friend but multiple of them.

Although she hasn't met them, they already made a good impression on her, and any friends of her son are already good in her books.

As he continued to talk about his friends, she was curious about meeting them to see what they look like.

And when she asked her son to invite them, her son couldn't help but look at her awkwardly and said. "Well…I could try but I don't think Kirito could come…"

"What do you mean?"

"No! Nothing!" 

Then the very next day, her son suddenly announced that he obtained a job from his friend's restaurant as a waiter.

Then suddenly her day couldn't be more happy than it already is, with her son broken out of his shell, reverted back to his old self, getting new friends and getting a job.

The future couldn't be more bright, she couldn't help but shed a tear. A few weeks ago she thought that the relationship between her and her son wouldn't be fixed for a long time, however a miracle happened.

Everything was becoming what she's hoping for, and it couldn't be more perfect than it already is.

However, the very next day her son went missing, ruining everything she was hoping for.

(A/N- Sikeee! Isekai-kun goes BRRR!)

—

"Here's your order." I placed the plate at the customer table.

This wasn't supposed to be my job, however due to the fact that there's a lot of new customers that came from my world I had to move and help place the order while Rin was cleaning the dishes.

For some reason Subaru didn't come, this was supposed to be his second day of work, but he did not arrive.

It made me wonder where the hell was he, of course as his friend I'm worried if something bad happened to him.

However, if nothing happened to him and just skipped the world for no good reason I would definitely get mad.

This is a serious establishment, if he treats it like a game then I'd be really disappointed at him, but from what I know about Subaru he wasn't the type of person to do this kind of thing.

Anyway whatever happened to him, I wouldn't know unless I visited him or he came here himself.

—

Today was a very busy day, a surge of customers suddenly appeared out of nowhere leaving me taken aback, because of it I barely have time to entertain my friends as my attention was cooking dishes for the customers.

Either way, it was a tough day for it was rather fulfilling in the end.

Anyway I realized something, for some reason the people from my world acted like there's nothing wrong with the restaurant.

They didn't act surprised, or feeling weirded by the fact that the space was bigger inside than the outside.

It's like they didn't notice it, and I was about to confirm it.

To them it's like an ordinary restaurant nothing more, it's like something was manipulating their perspective into believing that the restaurant was nothing more than an ordinary establishment.

Initially I was worried about it, however it turns out I was worried for nothing with this. I don't have to worry about the government knocking on my door.

But strangely, it makes me wonder how the heck did Caster see the changes in my restaurant, is it because she's a heroic spirit?

Or because she has magic?

Perhaps she's just a special case?

I would never know unless I ask her.

While I was pondering about it suddenly, someone entered the door, it was someone I've been looking for the entire time when the restaurant was busy.

Initially I was about to force him to give an explanation of why he didn't go to work, but the absolute shock on his face and the sheer desperation had taken me aback.

"It's real.. it's real.. it's really real!"

"Woah, Subaru calm down dude!" I rushed to his side after seeing him having a panic attack.

However, despite my very best, he didn't calm down at all and exclaimed. "Akihiko! Please you have to me man! I-i need to save them! You have to help me!"

I couldn't understand what he's trying to ask me. "Wait, wait! Calm down! I need some context or else I won't understand what you're trying to tell me!"

Somehow it calmed him down, before he could start suddenly someone said. "This seemed interesting, go on. Tell us what happened boy."

I quickly shifted my attention toward the culprit and saw that it was my only elf customer. "Serie? When did you arrive?"

"Just now, when you're trying to calm the boy down." Serie answered, then looked back at Subaru. "Now, tell me what happened, depending on your explanation I might offer my help to you."

Then Subaru started to explain from the very beginning where suddenly appeared in another world.

—

A/N- It's been real peaceful lately, why not add some action? About some time!