The Isekai Support Group

As the two arrived at a brick building, Inspector Haruki finished his phone call.

"Yea, we're here." he said then paused for a minute. "You're already inside? Okay, we'll head straight in."

Ichiro, confused and cautious, continued following the officer. Jingumae Community Center was posted on a small sign next to the door they used to enter the building. The pair walked over to the door and Haruki pulled the unlocked door open to reveal a very plain, poorly lit hallway.

"It's just down the hallway" he continued, "second door on the right."

Ichiro, suspiciously and hyper aware of his surroundings, began walking down the hall slowly. Haruki closed the door behind them. Ichiro paused; he couldn't help but think he was being led to a trap. With Haruki following closely behind, Ichiro continued down to the second door on the right. Twisting the doorknob and with a slight push, the unassuming door creaked open.

Inside was a well lit room and a girl placing chairs in a circle. Hearing the door, the girl looked up and smiled. She was in her early twenties and was average height. Her hair was long and flowed through the air as she moved.. Her eyes were kind, sharp, and bright red.

"Hey big brother!" the girl said emphatically, "Is this the guy?" she asked.

Haruki shrugged a bit "Yep, he seems kind of lost. I didn't want to pry too much, he's already had a bad night."

"How bad?" The girl asked.

Haruki paused for a moment as if he was considering the best way to phrase it.

"I don't know where I am or what is going on. I don't know how I got here. I just want to go back home." Ichiro chimed in interrupting the conversation.

The room fell silent as the three looked at each other, and after only a few moments, the girl chimed back in.

"Well, let me introduce myself. I'm Yuki Hanma. We should have some more people arriving soon." she said.

"Oh?" Haruki said. "You managed to get some of the others to come this late at night?"

"Not just some of the others big brother, everyone is coming." Yuki said. "I told them that we had another joining us and that I needed their help getting things situated."

"That's absolutely amazing, I'm so proud of you all" Haruki said to his sister. "Don't worry Ichiro, my sister and the rest of the support group will help you figure things out from here. I have to get going." he followed up with Ichiro.

"Of course, thank you for your assistance earlier." Ichiro said to the inspector.

"It was nothing. Truthfully, we were both lucky I was in the area when everything happened. " Haruki replied.

Inspector Haruki turned and began to leave the room as a frail, pale man with his hair in his face was outside the door. He was wearing a gray hoodie and denim pants. As Yuki noticed him, she called out.

"Hey Shingo! I'm just setting everything up." she said.

The pale, red eyed, early twenties man pulled his hand out of his hoodie's pocket and gave a small wave as he entered the room while the inspector held the door for him. Haruki then left and disappeared down the hall. Soon after entering, Shingo paused to look around and take a quick glance at Ichiro, but then continued over and sat in one of the chairs that Yuki had set up. He pulled his legs up off the floor and wrapped his arms around them. He had dark bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days. Resting his head on his knees, Shingo stared at the wall without saying anything.

Yuki smiled at him and continued setting up chairs. Ichiro, unsure of what to do, walked over and picked up one of the folded chairs that sat against the wall and mimicked Yuki in how to unfold it and place it down. After placing that chair, Ichiro looked to see no more chairs to be put out. Yuki had walked over to a small table near the door and started making coffee.

"You can go ahead and sit down if you'd like" Shingo said to Ichiro in a near whisper while still staring at the wall.

Ichiro looked over at him and then to all the chairs.

"Where am I to sit?" Ichiro asked quietly, trying to match Shingo's volume.

Shingo, now looking back at Ichiro, "Oh, you can sit anywhere. It doesn't even have to be in a chair if you don't want. Wherever is comfortable."

Ichiro looked around for a moment before sitting down on the floor. Shingo smiled a bit to himself.

"Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?" Ichiro whispered to Shingo.

"You can ask me anything at any time. I'll do what I can to help." Shingo whispered back.

Ichiro thought for a moment before continuing "What is this place? What are we doing here?"

Shingo sat up slightly glancing in Yuki's direction and then back to Ichiro before saying slightly louder than his previous whispers "This is the Isekai Support Group. More people are coming, but I live the closest which is why I get here so quickly. I'm assuming you, just tonight, came to this world, which is why Yuki called all of us to come in. We're here to help you with whatever you might need. We've all been in a similar position as you since we're all also from Isekais."

As Shingo finished explaining things to Ichiro, the door opened again and two more people walked into the room together. The first to enter was a girl in her mid twenties. She was caked in makeup with teased blonde hair. The clothes she wore were overly ornate pink leopard print. She, unbeknownst to Ichiro, was part of the gyaru subculture. Following her was a mid teens girl wearing, what can only be described as, the most efficient clothing she could think of. Simple black pants, a black shirt, sunglasses, and some black shoes. As she entered, she followed the previous girl since she was preoccupied with her phone.

"Hey you two" Yuki said excitedly.

"Hi Yuki" the overdressed girl said. "Man, for almost 2 am the roads are busy."

"I was wondering what was taking Takamasa so long. He was driving over to pick up Inori for the meeting" Yuki said.

The girl paused for a moment causing the younger of them to bump into her.

"Oof!" the two exclaimed a bit before the gyaru stylized girl said "Oh, Taka is on his way?"

"Of course Konomi, I managed to get everyone to respond so the entire group is coming."

Konomi's face lit up with a big smile before she hurriedly sat down, pulled a mirror out of her purse, and began putting even more makeup on. The younger girl continued standing where she was, oblivious to the world around her as she continued tapping rapidly on her phone.

"Asuka" whispered Shingo.

The young girl stopped tapping immediately and looked up at Shingo. Shingo reached over and pat the chair next to him. Without hesitation, Asuka went back to tapping on her phone but also trotted over and sat next to him. Shingo then scooted his chair closer to her and curled back up on it. Asuka leaned against him and smiled the smallest smile she could.

Yuki finished setting up the table and poured a cup of coffee.

Looking over to the group, "The coffee is ready and we have some cookies too."

Following that, she focused on Ichiro and asked "Do you want some coffee?"

"I don't know what you mean" Ichiro said confused.

Upon seeing the look on Ichiro's face, Yuki poured a cup of coffee, added a slight bit of creamer and sugar, and brought it to him. Shingo touched Asuka on the shoulder, to which she sat up so when he went to make some coffee he wouldn't disturb her. Shingo, made two cups of coffee at the table, one black and one with lots of cream and sugar, then grabbed one cookie and went back to his seat. He handed the heavily creamed coffee to Asuka as he sat back down. She took a sip and then leaned back onto Shingo and continued to tap on her phone.

"Well, we should probably wait for the others before..." Yuki was saying before she was interrupted by the door opening.

A simple looking girl wearing a green dress and a straw hat entered the room. She was unusually short compared to everyone else. Once she entered the room, she removed her hat revealing her hair pulled back by a headband.

"Hey Inori" Yuki said.

"Hi Yuki! Hi Shingo and Akuka and Konomi!" Inori said ecstatically, "Is this the new guy? How's it going? I'm Inori. Yuki said on the phone that you just changed and her brother found you. How lucky is that? I'm glad to have you here. Anything you need, just let me know. It's always nice to have someone to talk to about this kind of stuff. That's why we're all here! We've been through it all before. If you want anything or need some advice or just wonder about what to eat for dinner some time then..."

"Let's not overwhelm him immediately Inori" came from a deeper male voice from behind her.

Konomi's face lit up once again as a uniquely tall man in his late twenties walked in. Wearing basically a full suit, suit pants, button down shirt, tie, and vest, he stopped just behind Inori as he entered.

"Hi Taka" Konomi said.

"Hey Konomi" Takamasa said as he smiled at her. "Hi everyone. Ohh, someone made coffee. I'm assuming that was Yuki. Thanks Yuki, I need it for this time of night."

"Oh, you know how it is" Yuki said.

He looked toward Ichiro, but then turned back and poured himself a cup of coffee. Some of his hair had started to gray and his red eyes were sharp behind his wire frame glasses. Ichiro watched as they entered the room and each sat in a different chair. Konomi had purposefully left an open chair next to her and Takamasa took the opportunity to sit there.

Once everyone was seated, Yuki spoke up, "First, sorry to call you all so late at night. Thanks for coming. Second, we have someone new who might need some help. We all remember what it was like when we came back so let's do our best to help."

Shingo was the next to chime in and, at slightly louder than a whisper, said "Yes, he definitely needs help. He's lost. We need to do everything we can, though it may not be much."

The room fell silent. All eyes diverted toward Shingo. Even Asuka stopped tapping on her phone and looked up at Shingo. Ichiro looked around at everyone and noticed the look of sheer surprise on their faces. Shingo had a look of conviction.

Yuki broke the silence after shaking her head slightly, "Exactly. So everyone, this is Ichiro."

They all introduced themselves and Ichiro responded with "Hello. I don't know why I'm here or what is going on."

"This is the Isekai Support Group!" Inori exclaimed. "We've all been taken to another world and completed our missions and then came back, just like you!"

"Just like me?" Ichiro questioned to himself.

Inori got up and moved over to just in front of Ichiro and pointed at her eye which, like everyone else in the room, was bright red.

"We all have red eyes you see! We're the only ones! That's how we know for sure that you've been to another world too!" Inori said cheerily.

Ichiro hadn't noticed yet and so looked around and saw that everyone there did indeed have red eyes.

"But, I'm not" Ichiro started before he was interrupted.

"You don't have to say anything or tell us anything. We're just here to help you become readjusted to life in this world." Takamasa said.